McCall's Calling
by adders282
Summary: Set after the events of 3A, Scott McCall has been gone for five years with no explanation, only a letter for Stiles and his mother. Now he has returned to Beacon Hills, but he chooses to remain hidden from his former pack. Where has he been and what has he been doing, and more importantly, who is behind the latest murders in Beacon Hills?
1. Chapter 1

3 days after he became the True Alpha, Scott McCall left Beacon Hills.

Strangely enough it was Lydia who noticed his absence first, or more pointedly his mother's absence from the hospital. No that wasn't it; it was the stares she got from the other nurses in the hospital as she walked in. Apparently 6 months hadn't been enough time for everyone to forget her fugue state and so Lydia had been required at the hospital for a checkup. But everywhere she walked the eyes of the hospital staff followed her until she had had enough.

"What?' Lydia had demanded.

The nurse, startled by the confrontation had looked up at Lydia with wide eyes, similar to that of a surprised animal. In truth it was the look of a gossip who had been called out.

"You don't know?'

"Know what?"

"I'm sorry, I thought you knew, I-I shouldn't tell you, it isn't my place"

Lydia knew the type of person she was confronted with, and so choosing her words carefully; she prepared to set her trap.

"If you tell me what you know, I'll tell you what's in Doctor Robinson's top drawer".

That was enough for the nurse and so she had told Lydia. How Melissa McCall hadn't been in work for a week and the staff had been concerned, so yesterday one of the nurses had gone over to the McCall house to check on her. How she had found a drunk Melissa, sat on her couch with tear-streaked cheeks, clutching a crumpled letter in her hand and a bottle of wine in the other. How the only sentence she could coax out of the devastated mother was "He left'.

Lydia had sprinted from the hospital, forgetting her bargain with the nurse in her rush to get to the McCall house, praying to be proved wrong. She speeded the whole way to the house, not noticing the three red lights she ran, and had then hammered on the door until it was opened by John Stilinski.

The look on his face had told her all she needed to know, panic overwhelming her as she walked into the kitchen where she then saw Stiles.

The panic that had been building in her chest faded away as quickly as it had come to be replaced by a vast sorrow.

He looked broken, almost identical to the description she had been given of Melissa. The tears flowing freely from his eyes, he was holding a letter of his own but the most unsettling aspect was the stillness, normally a mass of movement, he was slumped on a chair, curled inwards on himself as if by disconnecting himself from the world he could disconnect from what he was feeling.

Gazing around the room Lydia saw Isaac practically holding Melissa up, not because she was drunk but because she didn't have the will to stand up. Isaac meet her gaze and nodded at her, a confirmation, as if the scene in the room wasn't proof enough.

The sound of a car entering the driveway reached Lydia's ears and looking through the window she saw the Argent's car come to a stall. Allison. What was Lydia going to tell her? She fell onto a seat; there was only one thing she could say. Scott McCall was gone.

5 years later and the Beacon Hills pack had managed to accept Scott's disappearance for what it was, Scott's decision. He had left two letters behind, one for his mother and one for Stiles. He could recall the letter word for word, the words imprinted in his head after countless times reading them, searching for a clue that would never exist.

_Stiles,_

_I'm leaving Beacon Hills and I don't know how long for, I have things to do that I have to do alone. I can never return to a normal life, normal by our standards anyway, becoming an alpha has changed things. I am sorry for not saying goodbye, I know it must hurt but I didn't want it to be like this and maybe one day you can forgive me._

_Don't come looking for me, it would be a waste of time. I'm doing this for a good reason I swear. I will miss you Stiles, and I hope one day I will be able to come back._

_You're my brother Stiles._

_Scott._

It had taken time of course, but slowly but surely they moved on with their lives until the pain the pack felt when they thought of Scott became a dull ache as opposed to a knife wound.

They had graduated from Beacon Hills High with only one more supernatural occurrence, which was progress, and all gone on to college except Derek naturally, Lydia had done two degrees in the time it took the others to do one, naturally.

Yet somehow they all found themselves back in Beacon Hills, maybe because of the pull of the Nemeton, maybe because it was where home was, or maybe it was because it was where they believed Scott would return. No one really knew.

The Hale House had been rebuilt, it seemed a good idea that if five werewolves were going to live under one roof it was a roof far away in the woods.

In what was a surprising turn, Stiles was training to become a surgeon despite his aversion to blood or needles or the amount of danger that befell Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. Maybe seeing so many of his friends with life threatening injuries had a hand in that.

Meanwhile the rest of the pack were getting their feet under the table, ready to move onwards in their journey to adulthood, but as Stiles loved to point out, they were twenty-one, growing up could wait.

All in all, the Beacon Hills Pack was content; things had settled down, they were able to be normal people again. Of course, that was never going to last.

Eli sprinted across the road, too fast for the human eye to track but not fast enough that the cars driving across the road were oblivious to him, horns blared at him and tires screeched as drivers braked to avoid hitting the shape in front of them.

Not that Eli cared about the attention, he had already been spotted, he took a left and then the next right, he just had to loose this tail and then he would be all right.

But Eli was exhausted; he had been running for twenty blocks now and his pursuers showed no signs of slowing down. Eli hadn't been particularly fast as a human, maybe running from other werewolves made it all relative again?

He had to push on regardless, he ran for two more blocks, turned left, then right, then two more lefts before jumping into an open door to the hotel on his right.

Fortunately for Eli it was very late and there was no one in the lobby as he sprinted across, the only sounds he could hear his own footsteps.

Stepping outside as quietly as he could so as to avoid drawing attention to himself, which considering his heavy breathing was not very quiet at all, he turned off down an alleyway so he could hide and catch his breath.

He had made it, not too shabby he thought, considering he had been a werewolf for all of two months.

A short cough from behind him shook him out of his thoughts, Eli span round on the spot, ready to unleash with the fangs and the fur. The source of the cough was obscured by shadows off of the wall so Eli had no idea what he was up against.

"Really Dee? You coughed to get his attention! He has been running for miles, nerves probably shredded and he has no idea who it is that's chasing him, and you think surprising him like that is going to help? He could've attacked you!"

"That's what you're here for bossman, well that and the fact that you are in fact the boss"

"I'm not anyone's boss Dee"

"Whatever you say…Boss"

Eli was freaked out, but he had to put on a brave front, show he wasn't afraid of these guys.

"Who are you? And get out of the shadows so I can see you!"

"Ok Eli, we're going to do what you want but I need you to stay calm ok? We just wanna talk'

"Yeh don't wig out on us man"

"Dee! Stop!"

"Sorry boss"

"I'm not the boss"

Two figures emerged from the dark, one a tall but skinny guy, with light brown hair, a face that could have been anywhere between 17 or 22, and the other a dark skinned adolescent with dark hair as well, a slightly uneven jawline and broad shoulders.

Eli had no idea what to think, but they knew his name, that couldn't be a good sign.

"H-How do you know my name? What do you want?"

It was Wonky Jaw who spoke first,

"We just wanna help you Eli, we know you've been chased and we can help. Its what we do. My name is Scott, and this is Dee". The other guy, Dee, gave Eli a salute.

Well it seems that Wonky Jaw wasn't gonna stick, Eli thought to himself, but he couldn't let himself be drawn into a trap. Drawing himself to his full height and puffing his shoulders out, though he couldn't hope to compete with Scott in terms of bulkiness, he looked him in the eyes as if to issue a challenge.

"He called you the boss, well what are you the boss of? The guys who are chasing me?"

Scott just rolled in eyes and then turned to Dee,

"See what happens when you call me the boss? You make me sound like the bad guy, stop it", Scott turned back to face Eli,

"Look, I'm not the boss, of anything ok? I just wanna help you, I know what you're going through and we can help you. Trust me"

Eli wanted some help, he needed it, but why would these guys go out of their way to help him?

"Why should I trust anything you say?"

"Because," Scott said, his eyes turning a brilliant crimson, "I'm just like you".


	2. Chapter 2

Scott McCall was not a man who slept easily, he was plagued with worry for his pack, his friends, his mother, himself and to top it all off regular nightmares served to act as a constant reminder of the things he had seen and had to do.

No, Scott McCall did not often sleep well and tonight was one of those nights.

Today's nightmare was an old one, images of Derek falling several stories to his death after the battle with the Alphas flashed through Scott's head, except in this nightmare Scott fell with him, and he could only watch as Derek hit the floor, life leaving his eyes.

Knowing Derek was alive didn't help, Scott still felt a crushing sense of failure, an inability to save his friends, and that guilt is what weighed on him the most, that and the darkness that had taken residence inside of him since the ritual sacrifice. Looking around the room at the sleeping members of his pack, Scott thought to himself that could not fail them like he had failed in his dreams. He was responsible for all of them and he had to keep them safe.

A sense he was being watched caused Scott to turn around and surely enough there was Dee, sat on one of the couches in the room, giving Scott an all too knowing look as he lit one of his cigarettes.

"Another bad dream? I'm starting to think you should go see a shrink, can't have you clawing any of our eyes out while you sleep"

'Don't worry Dee, if that was gonna happen, then I'd make sure it was yours I clawed out"

"Well now don't I feel like a bloody martyr? So seeing as you're up nice and early, I guess we should plan out the day ahead of us?"

"I don't know man, I was thinking we could maybe hide out here for one more day and make a move tomorrow."

Dee gave Scott a look to say that he knew exactly what was going through his head and he didn't approve.

"Look man, I know you want things to go back to how they were, and I know you wanna give the guys some time to rest, so it doesn't feel like we live everyday on the run. I get that, I do. But we can't afford to take chances now and you know that. We could easily be found here and until we know we are safe, we can't stop".

Scott knew he was right, and as the Alpha he had to make the decisions that were best for the pack, but sometimes running was so hard. He looked around the room at the six sleeping werewolves and just wished that they could go back to a time when they weren't on the run and could instead hole up in a city for months at a time.

"Ok, I think that we get an early start we can make a move south and get to Albuquerque by the end of the day."

"Further south? Aww bro can't we please head out east? Maybe back to New York, I still text those two girls up there, you know the red head has the hots for you."

A new voice chimed in. "I want to head back up to Utah or Idaho, there were some many trees out there, open spaces, it was great at full moons. Anyway Dee, you know you could never tempt Scott to head somewhere because of a girl. Not when the only one who ever lived is way over in California.

Scott and Dee turned to look at the newcomer, an older girl with shoulder length blonde hair, emerald green eyes and a mischievous grin that always seemed permanently stuck on her face.

She was carefully treading through the mass of sleeping bodies on the floor, then walked around the sleeping space to the make shift kitchen the pack had made or rather dumped their pizza boxes and groceries. She rooted around a shopping bag, took out an apple and sat down next to Scott and Dee.

Dee was the first to reply, "Top of the morning to you Katie, I didn't know you were up otherwise I would have told you that you stink, and so do your ideas. It is too open in Utah, way to easy for a pack to be found. However I will admit that you're right, you shouldn't use a girl as bait in front Scott McCall, it'd never work".

Katie just smiled, "Good morning to you to Dee", she turned around to look at Scott, "or you know, we could just wait for Dee to have one of his visions and then go and help the poor sucker out wherever they are".

Dee chuckled at that, "Ahh yes, Dee's wonderful tourist guide visions, sent down to help the True Alpha pick out a new holiday spot and find new strays for his pack".

"Hey, I was not a stray, and quite frankly I find the use of that word derogatory"

"Katie, we found you in an abandoned cabin in the woods, catching rabbits to survive, I think we could call you a stray"

Scott could see the beginnings of an argument between Katie and Dee, however tongue in cheek it may be, and Scott was not prepared to spend the rest of the day listen to his two friends try to one up each other. Sixteen years with Stiles had taught him a lot however, and he knew how to head of a rant before it began.

He cleared his throat, "Ahem", and as the other two turned to look at him with annoyed looks on their faces at having been interrupted, he was reminded of the look Stiles would give him when he tried to stop another one of his schemes, he never could.

Fortunately as alpha when Scott spoke, people listened, not so much out of duty but a genuine respect for what he had to say. One of the many reasons that Scott McCall had become the True Alpha.

"Dee, we aren't strays. Katie, you were kinda gross when we found you, now could you please wake Connor so he can come over here, and then get everyone else up? Thanks".

Katie nodded at Scott and then stuck her tongue out Dee, before walking back amongst the sleeping werewolves, mumbling something under her breath about 'not being gross' and 'Dee's face when he eats, now that is gross'.

Argument avoided, Scott was relieved, and grateful for Katie's help and happy demeanor, it served to blow away the air of worry that had clouded Scott's head only moments before.

Truthfully Scott was grateful for Katie, two years younger than Scott at nineteen she had been part of the pack for four years, the third werewolf to join, fourth member if you counted Dee, which of course everybody did because without Dee there would not have been a pack.

In the four years Scott had known her, she had become like a sister to him, that's how Scott thought of her anyway. She understood him better than anyone else; she could read his moods, knew how to cheer him up and knew when he needed time. Throw in the fact that she was the epitome of sunshine and that the two of them were on the same wavelength on almost everything and it just seemed natural to think of her as his sister.

Scott then found some of his lost misery from earlier; he had only ever had a bond like that with one person in his life before, and thinking of Stiles could only result in either bittersweet happiness or a general sadness.

Of course leave it to Dee to snap him out of his train of though, "Yo Scotty my man, enough of the daydreaming, let's get back on track, where we headed?"

Scott was about to tell Dee to wait for Connor but as luck would have it, the aforementioned pack member arrived. A tall dark-skinned man, Connor looked like he was a couple inches off being a basketball player, he was built but not overly large with a faded in hair cut and big brown eyes, though they had nothing on Scott's puppy dog eyes as the pack liked to remind him.

Connor was the only member of the pack older than Scott at twenty-three, but he was the first person Dee and Scott had found on their travels.

Having once lost control of himself on the full moon, Conner had almost killed his best friend back home in Portland and had since then gone on the run to live as an omega, feeling he didn't deserve to live with people, didn't deserve to be happy. Seven years later Scott found him, and showed him that he didn't have to punish himself for his mistakes, that he had to learn and make amends, which from an outsider's perspective was ironic seeing as that was all Scott had ever done, blame himself.

Together, they had gone back to Portland where Connor saw his friend, he had wept as he apologized whilst his friend could only hug Connor back, lost for words at having found him again. Conner had the chance to go back to his old life, but he felt a deep gratitude towards Scott, for helping him take his life back and so he had stayed.

That loyalty towards Scott had formed the basis of their friendship, and Scott saw Connor as one of the few people in the world that he could always trust to do the right thing, given any situation.

"Sup guys?"

"Aww hey bro, we are just trying to decide our next destination, Scott says Albuquerque, I say New York"

"Dee, we are already in New Mexico, you know how far it is to New York, and how long it will take to get there. Not to mention how difficult it is to cover our tracks, how do you plan on getting there?"

"Well I was thinking that seeing as you were werewolves you could run pretty far, and then as the only human I could maybe grab a piggyback?"

"No way dude"

"Trust you side with Scott, I thought you liked New York?"

"I did, there was a big hip hop scene, not a good enough reason to get killed over"

Dee just rolled his eyes, "Come on man, don't you think you might be exaggerating a _tiny_ bit?"

Scott spoke up, "He's right Dee, New York is too far, and too risky, we need to head to Albuquerque and from there get a bus or something to a big city, spread our scent there, and then leave and head out somewhere far away. Maybe then we can go back east."

Dee looking appeased, nodded in agreement before finishing his cigarette.

'Those things will kill you Dee," Katie shouted from somewhere in the room, as she did every time he finished a cigarette. Sometimes, Scott thought, Katie did nothing to stop the inevitable arguments.

Dee looked to roll his eyes again, but then they stayed where they were in the top of his head and Dee began to rock back and forth in his seat.

Connor was the first to register Dee's behavior, "Look alive Scott, it looks like he is gonna decide where we end up after all'.

Katie walked in just in time to see events unfold, "IT'S VISION TIME!"

Now it was Scott's turn to roll his eyes at his pack mates, "Stop it guys, you know that Dee's visions are serious!"

"Yeh but two in six months, it must be werewolf season".

Scott turned to address Katie, "Right you know the drill, make sure everyone is up and everything is packed. We will plan our journey to wherever it is while we have something to eat and then we move. Someone out there is gonna need our help."

Katie nodded in acknowledgement, then spun on her heels and skipped off to where the four other werewolves were groggily getting out of their sleeping bags.

Dee's rocking began to slow down until he stilled and his eyes completed their rolling movement, he then slumped back into his seat with one hand on his head and the other outstretched.

"Do me a favor and grab me a drink will ya? Gatorade or something else tasty, NOT water Katie." He leaned forward to grab his pack of cigarettes and lit another before leaning back.

"Christ, I've only been up one hour and already I'm exhausted. Being a seer isn't a glitz and glamour you know".

Katie returned, drink in hand, "It's never glitz and glamour with you Dee, only vacant houses or shoddy motels", although she teased the Seer, there was concern in her eyes.

Scott too was concerned; another vision meant another werewolf, which meant running the risk of being caught trying to find them. Add in the fact that Katie was right; it _was_ unusual for Dee to have another vision so soon after the one that helped them find Eli.

Still, Scott knew that another vision meant another werewolf who needed help, and that was what he and the pack did. They helped, it was his job as the True Alpha and it was the pack's choice to help him.

"What have we got then Dee, where are we going? Are they in trouble? How much time do we have?"

"Easy with the twenty one questions Scott, I'm not some sort of magic werewolf 8ball", but even as Dee said this he gave Scott a wink before his face took on a decidedly sterner look. He looked round at the seven werewolves that had crowded in around him.

"Well firstly it seems we have a bit of time, I didn't get the sense of urgency that I have done when it was going to be soon. And this guy didn't seem to be in trouble, well at least serious trouble. He was scared but overall I get the feeling that he was confused, it was like he was new."

Dee took a long drink from the bottle handed to him before taking an even longer drag of his cigarette.

"As for where, well this is a bit of a problem, and you aren't gonna like this Scott".

Scott could feel a chill go down his spine as his eyes widened and his heartbeat increased, his fear obvious for all those with enhanced hearing to see. He knew where this was going, and he hoped to God that he was wrong.

"He was in Beacon Hills".

Scott set his bag down on the floor and he and the others got out of the taxi that had stopped just on the outskirts of town by the Beacon Hills sign. Cheesy I know, Scott thought to himself but necessary nonetheless, they couldn't leave a scent in town and this was as good a place as any to plan a route into Beacon Hills.

Once the taxi was paid and it had left, the other began to walk around and stretch their legs; on every face was the same expression, a mix between wonder, curiosity and a determination to drink everything in.

After all this was the home of their alpha and they all knew the stories.

Scott himself wore a look of tiredness, the darkness in his heart weighing him down.

So many worries in his head, about this new werewolf, the fact that there was another alpha in town that had bitten them. Worries about what could be following his pack.

And of course most of all, worries about returning home. He had no idea what to do; it had been five years. What if the others had moved on? What if they hated him? Would they forgive him? What were they even doing with their lives?

Scott wanted to see them, desperately. There hadn't been a day that had gone by when he didn't think of his mom, or Stiles. Or Allison.

First things first, Scott said to himself, we need to find a place to crash.

**Author's Note: Yo, so this is my first fanfic, so I am trying to get to grips with it and formatting and stuff. So if it reads poorly I do apologize, or if it sucks well then, unlucky for me.**

**I don't have a beta reader, I don't really know how you get one or if you need one so again, if you think that has a negative affect apologies.**

**That said, I hope you enjoy it so cheers.**

**I do not own any of Teen Wolf. **


	3. Chapter 3

Stiles felt like he had been in a rush all day. It didn't help that he slept in, or that he couldn't remember where he had put his clean scrubs, or that there had been a big accident on his usual route to work so he had to drive the long way to the hospital, and that had all been in the hour and a half before he had work.

Throw in a ten hour shift of watching surgeons in theatre, practical lessons on how to close up a caesarean section, more observing surgeons, studying the effects of using unsterilized tools and then assisting a surgeon on an amputation (memories of Derek and the time he had the monkswood bullet in his arm had sprung to mind) and all in all Stiles was exhausted.

Compared to the other trainee students Stiles was doing well, he was used to running around at a high intensity from one problem to another but even he was struggling to keep up.

And now Stiles had to hurry home, grab a shower and something to eat before heading out to the Hale House to meet the others and pre-drink before the weekly boys night out.

Never a dull moment for Stiles Stilinski, the boy who ran with wolves.

Pulling into the drive Stiles parked his beloved Jeep next to Melissa's car but leaving enough space for his dad's patrol car to park without taking up all the space on the street. Having three vehicles made it difficult to find space but Stiles didn't mind; it was a nice reminder to him that three people lived in his house, making home feel more homely.

Stiles bustled through the front door, trying to carry all of his study books and clean scrubs with him at the same time, he was doing well he thought to himself, managing to avoid dropping anything which was unusual for him before he tripped over his own feet and in what felt like slow motion, Stiles saw the floor come closer to his face as he began his descent.

"Arrrrggghhhhh" was Stiles' only response to his inevitable demise.

Two arms shot out to grab hold of Stiles before serious injury could occur; relieved Stiles found his footing again before turning to look at his savior.

"You know one of these days you're going to hurt yourself, try doing two trips next time kiddo I can't always be here to save you".

"Thanks dad, its life saving feats like that those make you the Sheriff".

John Stilinski smiled warmly before shaking his head in disbelief at his son's ability to find trouble, even in his own home, "And here I thought it was having a budding detective like you for a son helping me close out cases, even when he shouldn't have done. Now hurry on upstairs and get clean and dressed, Melissa is making lasagna and its almost ready. And aren't you going out tonight? You're gonna be late!"

"I know!" Stiles called out over his shoulder as he sprinted up stairs, obviously not learning his lesson from his near death experience before. Stiles burst through his door, throwing his scrubs on the floor and his books on his desk. He checked his phone, a text from Isaac and one from Lydia. He looked at Lydia's first of course.

_No Stiles, Allison and I will not be coming out tonight, you invite us every 'boys night' and it always turns into us trying to keep up with the werewolves and ending up with a terrible hangover the next morning. You will regret it tomorrow and I won't be afraid to tell you so._

Meh, Stiles thought, it doesn't _always_ end up like that, sometimes he paces himself and the wolves are the ones who end up in a state, only they don't have to deal with the ear splitting headaches Allison, Lydia and Stiles do. There is actually a specific hangover kit kept at the Hale house just for the humans, but he won't be using it tonight Stiles tells himself. He then remembers that Isaac text him too.

_Dude are you out of work yet? The twins and I have already started drinking, so by the time you get here and drink a bit we may actually be at the same level of drunk. Hurry up!_

That caused Stiles to smile to himself, trust Isaac and the twins to start drinking at six; they seriously overestimate their abilities. But he preferred to think of it as them being good friends so he wouldn't complain. He checks his watch, it's now eight, he does have to hurry up. I wonder if Derek is coming out Stiles thinks to himself, sometimes he swears Derek was born a grumpy adult with no childhood.

Fifteen minutes later Stiles is showered and changed, and for once not wearing plaid, Lydia had told him one night that she thought he looked good in a black t-shirt and so that was that. Stiles never wore plaid on a night out.

Walking into the kitchen Stiles was buffeted by the delicious scent of Melissa Stilinski-McCall's cooking and in that moment and time Stiles could not have been more grateful, he was starving. Melissa and John were already sat at the table, dividing up the lasagna onto plates as Stiles took his seat.

"Ohmygod Melissa that smells _so _good, I have no idea what we would do without you because otherwise I would still be doing all the cooking and it would be nowhere near this good. Come to think of it how do you manage, I couldn't think of anything more horrible than having to cook after a shift at the hospital."

"Thank you Stiles, it's nice of you to say. And you get used to it, having to cook for Scott when he was a child meant that I soon learned to deal. Who knows maybe one day when you are married and have little Stiles' running around you will learn to deal too."

There was a small pause at the mention of Scott, but talking about him had become much easier than it had been even just a year ago, so John soon spoke up.

"Oh god please no, if there were more than one little Stiles that were exactly like Stiles, I don't think he could make it out the house, let alone go to work, come back and cook"

Melissa and Stiles shared a knowing look, memories of Scott and Stiles as five year olds running around still sometimes brought the parents to the point of crying out in frustration.

"Icudowit" was Stiles reply as he tried to speak whilst shoving lasagna down his throat, swallowing down his latest mound of food he tried again, "I could do it, don't forget that if they were like me I'd know exactly how to keep them occupied".

"Well if you find yourself a girlfriend maybe you could see where that takes you and if you could do it".

"Please Melissa don't put ideas in his head, one Stiles is enough for now"

Melissa chuckled in agreement and gave John a kiss, turning to Stiles she then smiled coyly, "Say Stiles, is a certain Ms. Martin going to be out tonight?"

John suddenly perked up at the mention of Lydia, "Where is Lydia anyway, you haven't brought her over in a while, are things ok between you?"

Stiles could see where this was going, both Melissa and John were feigning innocent interest but they were trying to fish and find out if Stiles and Lydia were going to happen, they both loved her and the fact that Stiles still saw Lydia as the only girl for him only served to cement Lydia as the only girl for them.

The truth was Stiles didn't know, after six years she and him were close, closer than just friends, but for some reason they had never taken that next step, at first it was because of Aiden, he and Lydia had seen each other for a year after Deucalion, and broken up but by then Stiles begrudgingly respected Aiden and was therefore unwilling to make a move for some time. Now the time was right but it seemed neither were going to come out and try to start something between them, which was frustrating for everyone else who watched them.

Remembering he was under interrogation, Stiles painstakingly prepared his answer, get it wrong and there may be no lasagna leftover for him to eat tomorrow.

"No, she isn't going to be, she wasn't brave enough to try and stay out with the werewolves and I think her and Allison are staying in instead. Speaking of which I am really running late, so I gotta go. Melissa thanks so much for dinner, please save whatever is leftover and I will attack that tomorrow. I am going to crash with the boys tonight and get back tomorrow sometime in the afternoon. Ok, see you both tomorrow, stay safe bye-bye".

Neither John or Melissa seemed convinced but they let Stiles go anyway, waving him off with a warning not to drink too much and to make sure John didn't have to get him out of the station, or any of the others either.

Twenty minutes later and Stiles was pulling up in front of the Hale House in Beacon Hills preserve. Three years after the last supernatural occurrence and Stiles still felt jittery being in the preserve, how could he not? Too much had happened there. However the calm that the Beacon Hills pack had enjoyed recently had helped to relieve some of the tension Stiles felt, that and the fact that four werewolves he could trust his life with lived there and would hear him if he was in danger.

Of course the fact that Peter also lived there did nothing to relieve any tension whatsoever.

Looking at the Hale House, Stiles was a little envious of the werewolves, it seemed that being afflicted with lycanthropy resulted in having a pretty sweet bachelor pad to hole up in. The house had been restored to look like it once had which when you looked at it was reminiscent of an eighteenth century manor, it spanned three floors and Stiles knew that there were at least ten bedrooms, not to mention the studies, kitchen, bathrooms and gym, which baffled Stiles because come on, why did werewolves need a gym?

It was pretty imposing out there in the preserve, the lone house out amongst the forest, built upon the remains of the previous burned out shell that had been home to the Hales. The restoration had been the talk of town when people found out it was being rebuilt, a previous murder suspect rebuilding a mansion out in the preserve where many animals attacks had taken place, and where three young men and an older man who no one could put a face to lived with said previous murder suspect, for the gossips of Beacon Hills, it was a juicy bit of steak that had to be eaten.

Stiles didn't know what would of scared the locals more, the story they had drawn up or the fact that the Hale House was home to five werewolves, one of whom was responsible for those 'animal attacks'. Who was Stiles kidding? The story the locals created had nothing on the truth. He did find it funny though when he saw Derek out in town, he did nothing to help dispel the rumors about him, keeping his 'Iwillkillyouifyoukeeptalkingtome' look for anyone who tried to start a converstation. On the plus side he had softened around the pack, coming to dinners with packmates or holding killer Christmas parties.

Stiles checked his watch, nine o'clock, that meant he had two hours to get some hard drinking done before they headed out, he wondered how drunk the others were already.

The sound of several whoops whoops and shouts of 'Stiles is here, let's get him wasted' served as a measure of where the wolves were at.

The door swung open and Isaac stood in the doorway, illuminated against the backdrop of light behind, he had a bottle of tequila in one hand and a bottle of sprite in the other. Apparently werewolves don't need glasses, Stiles thought to himself.

"Yo yo yo Stiles! You made it man! Lets go get wasted", Isaac had the goofiest grin on his face and it seemed like he was having trouble opening his eyes more than the two centimeters he had managed.

Ethan and Aiden pooped up behind him, wearing similar expressions, "Yeah go Stil-Sti-Stilinschi', safe to say Ethan had trouble pronouncing his name when he was drunk.

Stiles took this as a good sign; he might be able to outlast these werewolves after all, he would just have to keep them drinking.

Looking up with a wicked grin on his face Stiles decided to push them as far as he could, "Alright then boys, where's my bottle of Jack?"

The next two hours passed by in a blur to Stiles, there were drinking games, and downed shots and dirty pints, Ethan and Aiden started to try and test how similar twins were, by trying down straight Jack for as long as possible, the idea was that they could both last the same time. It turns out that Aiden was a better drinker but Ethan tried to compensate by claiming he was a better dancer, which he was going to prove later.

At the mention of dancing Isaac's head perked up, he then proceeded to engage in a dance off with Ethan at which point Stiles felt compelled to join. Soon the four boys were trying to outdo each other while Derek, who had come downstairs later for company, could only shake his head and cringe. The boys had tried to tease Derek for not coming out and instead choosing to sit inside and read, but Derek was impervious to their pleas, instead distracting the other wolves by egging them on to drink more.

Soon it was time to go.

"Why can't we go to Jungle?" Ethan whined, "No one ever wants to go to Jungle"

"That's because there are no chicks in Jungle, but there could be guys for you at other clubs" was Aiden's reply

"Plus I'm not such a fan of the music" Isaac chimed in.

Then it was Stiles turn to contribute to the conversation, unfortunately for him the Jack he had been drinking had left in him in quite the state of inebriation and so he hadn't thought through his next sentence, "I've been to Jungle once before, it wasn't so bad"

Suddenly the three others had turned to look at him, surprise etched across their faces, "WHAT?"

Stiles, looking at the shocked faces staring at him with an intensity only a drunk could manage suddenly realized his mistake, and tried to cover for himself, "Derek was there too!"

The three heads whipped round in the direction of Derek who himself wore a startled look, before he regained his composure and took on an annoyed tone.

"Yes Stiles I was in Jungle, to stop the Kanima from killing anyone!"

"Yeh, yeh that's why I was there to, to stop Jackson-the Kanima. Scott came as well"

As they walked out of the living room to wait for the taxi Isaac and Aiden had a look on their faces that suggested they weren't going to let this go. Ethan just smirked, "What will Lydia say when she finds out about this? I don't think she'll get over it"

Fortunately for Stiles he was saved by the arrival of the taxi, which then caught Isaac's attention as he heard it approaching the house.

"It always make me laugh when the taxi gets here, you can hear the driver's heartbeat stammering with fear, they are so scared of the house."

"Well you can't really blame them, Derek was a murder suspect, and he has a murder suspects glare".

"I heard that", came Derek's reply within the house, "and don't wake me up when you get in!"

Stiles chuckled at that, remembering previous nights out which always resulted in the wolves waking Derek up, they always brought him a pizza to make up for it, and if Stiles remembered correctly, when Derek got drunk, he was worse than any of the others for being loud. All that repressed fun has to come out somehow Stiles thought.

Getting into the taxi with the others, Stiles began to get excited about hitting town, and who knows, maybe he could convince Lydia to come out after all.

/

Scott didn't know what to think.

Being in Beacon Hills was difficult for obvious reasons; it seemed at every turn he was hit head on with memories and the emotions they brought.

Fair enough, it didn't help that Scott had chosen to base the pack at the abandoned railway station, which was just asking for it. But Scott didn't really know where else to hide out, and if it had been good enough for Derek back then surely it would be good enough now.

With the pack settled and Connor and Katie making sure that they had enough food and everyone knew the plan for staying in Beacon Hills, which to summarize was 'never leave alone, never leave a scent, always make sure someone know where you're going', Scott had decided to go and get some fresh air. Which was bullshit and everyone knew it, but who could blame Scott for wanting to explore and maybe see his old pack? Hell they wanted to meet the pack from Scott stories, but a plan was a plan and so they stuck to it.

He didn't really know where he was going at first, he was afraid to check in on members of his pack, not because he thought they would find him, but because he didn't know if he would be able to turn away, so he just wandered across the rooftops of Beacon Hills. It was funny really, how no one ever noticed him, no one ever looked up.

This was how Scott proceeded for an hour or so, not looking for anything in particular, but faced with his past all the same. He saw the tattoo parlor he went to with Stiles, in what was probably the last time Scott truly believed that he could stay out of the supernatural world. He saw the bowling alley where he and Allison had gone on there first 'date', even though Jackson and Lydia's presence had made it a somewhat unofficial one, memories of Allison whispering next to his ear brought heat to his face even now. In the distance he saw the High School and the lacrosse field. He was bombarded with memories then, recollecting past lacrosse victories, Coach's various tirades at either him, Stiles or Greenberg or some other poor soul. This was in contrast to thoughts of the time Peter trapped them in the school, or when he and Derek had corralled Boyd and Cora into the boiler room.

Right on cue the darkness around Scott's heart began to overwhelm him, perhaps more intense than ever before, Scott didn't know if it was because of memories pulling at him from all directions or if reminiscing of dead pack members increased his worries about his own pack. No that wasn't why and Scott knew that.

It the fact that he was in such close proximity to the Nemeton, Scott felt a twinge of guilt at the thought, is this what Allison and Stiles had to deal with? Had he left them alone to bear the burden?

They didn't know why he had left, about his calling as the True Alpha and what he did with his pack. They would have spent five years thinking Scott abandoned them. Were they even still in Beacon Hills?

Then in the midst of Scott's despair, he saw a familiar face down on the street below. Walking out of a coffee shop was Danny Mahealani, arms entwined with some guy; I guess things didn't work out with Ethan Scott thought.

Danny seemed happy; he was talking with his friend, laughing about something he said. He looked older, his face had matured and he was certainly taller, to put it simply it looked like Danny was moving on with his life.

This stirred something in Scott, to see one of his old friends older and happier it made Scott feel lighter and he realized then that if his other friends were in similar circumstances to Danny than that was all he could ask for.

He moved onwards then, and perhaps inevitably, Scott found himself outside of his old house. Scott hadn't wanted to go through the pain of seeing his mother but he realized that knowing how she was doing was more important than his own emotional pain.

The house lights were all off, which alarmed Scott, even when she was at the hospital working she always left the lights on, to make it seem as if someone was home to burglars. Crossing the street with his head down Scott could see nothing through the windows as the curtains were drawn, starting to worry Scott walked around into the garden and tried to find the spare key under the mat. Nothing. The kitchen window didn't have any curtains so he tried to peek through. The kitchen was bare; there was nothing in it.

Scott then realized the truth; no one lived in the house.

Panic set in, and Scott's head flashed through the thousand scenarios that could have happened, but he could not reassure himself that things were ok.

There was still a strong scent of his mother around the house, so he decided to see if he could follow it through town.

Wary of the fact that the entire time he was leaving his own scent behind, Scott began to jog as he followed the scent, the quicker he found his mother the quicker he could get out of here.

Scott had been following the trail for five minutes before he realized where he was, Stiles' neighborhood, and his mother's scent was getting stronger. Across from him was Stiles' house and parked up was his mom's car, the Sheriff's patrol vehicle and Stiles' Jeep. Scott's mind went blank. All he could think of was rushing into the house to see his best friend, but he knew that wasn't an option. Movement in front of the window grabbed his attention and he saw his mother, John and Stiles sat around the table eating. Melissa then leaned over and kissed the Sheriff. Right on the lips.

Scott was gob smacked, his mind unable to process what he had seen and put the pieces together, eventually the wheels began to turn and Scott broke into the biggest smile of his life. Suddenly it all made sense, his mom and the Sheriff were together, married even. All those years Scott and Stiles had tried to make it happen and here they were.

Scott was then overcome with emotion and he sat down on the pavement and cried. He didn't now if it was sadness, happiness or relief. Maybe a combination of both. Seeing his mother, Stiles and John no more than a hundred meters in front of him was a gut wrenching pain, but then knowing his mom was happy, with Stiles and his dad, and that Stiles had his mom, it was a greater emotion than the pain he was feeling.

Laughing, Scott stood up and began his journey home, he could deal with this, he had some answers and they were good ones. Walking back to the railway station with a skip in his step, Scott McCall felt some of his burden lift of his shoulders, and not even the darkness could overpower the joy he felt.

Maybe checking in on them wasn't such a bad idea, maybe, if he was careful and kept hidden from them, he could check in on the others and see how they were doing. Having seen Stiles and his mother, there was one person who came to the forefront of his thoughts.


	4. Chapter 4

The sound of her alarm woke Allison up, she reached out and tried to turn it off but she couldn't find it, peering through what felt like super-glued eyes she managed to locate the offending object and hit the snooze button.

Seven o'clock, her least favorite time of the day.

Sighing she knew she had to get out of bed before sleep reached out and enveloped her again so she threw the covers back and swung her legs out and over the bed. It was freezing outside the confines of her quilt so Allison rushed to get changed into her running gear to stop from freezing. She hoped it was because she just got out of bed that she was cold and that outside wasn't so bad. Lack of supernatural occurrences or not, a hunter had to stay fit and Allison prided herself on her levels of fitness, however that didn't mean that she looked forward to the idea of going running in the cold.

Today was Saturday which fortunately for her was her day off, so no work at the coffee shop in town but unfortunately for her, it meant Lydia had a big trip to the mall planned, and despite how much Allison loved Lydia and loved shopping, the thought of trying to keep up with Lydia as she marched from shop to shop seemed even more exhausting than the run she was about to embark on.

Stepping outside of her building and plugging her headphones in Allison set off along her usual route. She normally ran from her apartment through the residential areas of town, directly past Stiles' house funnily enough, on her way to the preserve where she would began to enjoy herself.

She couldn't really put her finger on why but Allison much preferred to run amongst the trees and wilderness where she was normally alone. Away from her friends and other distractions Allison could focus her thoughts, she would think about only two things; how tired she was and whatever was pressing on her mind at the time.

She ran a lot after Scott left.

The months immediately after he disappeared Allison felt like she couldn't function, couldn't breath, couldn't think without him. She had told Lydia something similar back when they had been together but she didn't know how prophetic her words would come to be. They hadn't been together but that made it worse in her opinion, she had so many things she had wanted to tell him, and she often thought to herself that maybe if she had he would have stayed, or at least told her why he left, Allison could have helped him with whatever he was dealing with. Hindsight was frustrating thing.

It hadn't helped that at the same time she was feeling the side-affects of the ritual, it felt like there was a cloud that was permanently making her day overcast, blocking out all sunshine and any happiness.

It was at this point that Allison realized she had to do something about it. She was Allison Argent the hunter, she would not allow her emotions to overcome her and she would not be weak. The lessons her mother and father had instilled in her motivated her to stand strong.

So one day she got up, changed out of the clothes she had spent weeks mourning in, left her room and went to Stiles' house because if anyone at that moment and time needed her it was him. He too would be feeling the effects of the ritual, the effects of Scott leaving. The look of surprise on his face when she walked into his room still made her chuckle; it was like he had just been told he was required to meet the President and the Queen of England for lunch.

Together they had helped each other cope, it wasn't easy but if anyone could understand what Allison was going through it was Stiles and visa versa. Once they had begun helping themselves it was easier for the pack to help, Lydia and Isaac in particular seeing as they had been their anchors when they went under.

Allison and Stiles had eventually learnt how to cope with the effects of the ritual; they concluded that it fed upon their insecurities and misery, so the two of them had begun meditating at Deaton's suggestion, he said that by clearing their heads of negative energies and feelings they could limit the effect the darkness had on them.

It turned out he was right; learning to control their own feelings helped them control the darkness. It was still there, in the corner of their minds and hearts and it could still sometimes grow and overwhelm them, but together Stiles and Allison would help each other deal.

Allison hadn't noticed how far along her run she had gotten until she noticed where she was, right in the middle of the preserve. She slowed down, annoyed at herself for thinking about Scott again. It wasn't that she refused to think about him, but she always felt like she was being weak when she allowed her thoughts to be occupied by the boy who had left her and wasn't coming back. But no matter how hard she tried, Scott McCall was never far from her thoughts.

Stop it, she told herself. Huffing in frustration she stopped jogging, took out her earphones and began to stretch. She was about three quarters of the way through her jog; it was as a good a time for a break as any.

Allison was suddenly struck by the quietness in the preserve and it wasn't because she had just been listening to music, it was eerily quiet. There was no bird song, no chatter of crickets or even the rustling of leaves as rabbits or deer made their way through the forest. Nothing.

Allison looked around, the Californian sun had begun to creep through the trees, lighting up some areas of the forest whilst leaving the rest in shadows. The undergrowth of the forest was covered in foliage and dead leaves, no plants as the trees that had stood in the same spot for a century were the first to absorb the rays from the sun, their long roots the primary consumers of the nutrients in the soil, leaving nothing left for budding life. Who knew trees could be so cruel Allison thought. The image of huge stump in the middle of the preserve reminding her that she of all people knew exactly how cruel.

All in all, everything looked exactly as it should have done, save for the absence of wildlife. Beginning to feel unnerved Allison took a defensive stance, and tried to listen out for any offending sounds that may suggest why it seemed that the inhabitants of the forest had abandoned this area. Still the silence stretched on.

Until it was shattered by the snapping of several twigs, glancing around to her left where the sound came from Allison could feel her heart rate rise as the source of the noise came closer towards her. A doe and her calf burst into the clearing where she was and Allison let out the breath she had been holding. Way to go Allison she thought, scared to death by a deer and its three-month-old calf, real dangerous.

The doe had noticed Allison and she did not look happy, so to placate the mother Allison began to take slow steps backwards until she felt she was far enough away to turn around and begin her run again.

What Allison had failed to do the entire time she had been in the clearing was to look up into the trees or else she would have seen the two figures sitting in one of the taller oaks.

The two men dropped out of the tree right on top of the deer and one of them snapped the mother's neck whilst the other captured and held the screaming calf in place, preventing its escape.

"Are you really going to keep it alive all the way back to camp?"

"Why not? I prefer them fresh and scared, they taste better"

"Because I can't be bothered to carry this all the way back whilst having to listen to it screaming"

The other man considered his partner's request before nodding to suggest he understood before snapping the calf's head as well. "Ok, you win but I still can't see why we couldn't have gone after her", gesturing in the direction Allison had taken off.

"Because we don't want to draw attention to ourselves, things are not ready yet and we won't announce ourselves to this town until then"

"I know but I hate this vegetarian diet, I want the good stuff"

"I know you do, I'm the same but until the boss says otherwise, this is all we get".

Dragging the carcasses with them, the two men disappeared back into the shadows.

/

Having recovered from her scare earlier, Allison had gotten home, showered, eaten and chosen what she was going to wear, Lydia often said she wouldn't be seen in public with Allison if she wasn't dressed well, 'you never knew if you were going to run into a worthy distraction' seemed to be the mantra Lydia was pushing, which Allison found amusing, as she had never seen Lydia dressed down in front of Stiles.

On her way out of the apartment she encountered her father, "Ok Dad so I'm about to go, is there anything I can get you"

"No I think I'm good, where are you going?"

"Just out to the mall with Lydia, you know how much she loves Macys on a Saturday"

A brief smile caught on Chris Argent's lips, yes he did know how much Lydia loved shopping, he had once made the mistake of offering to be chauffeur for the day. The sight of Lydia Martin carrying the best part of twenty bags had both stunned and amazed Chris. That girl can do anything he had thought to himself.

"Ok well have fun, and if you see Isaac at any point tell him not to be a stranger and that he's welcome over for dinner anytime, it's been a while since I've seen him".

"Ok Dad, I think he may bit a bit hung-over from boys night but I will do".

Three hours later and Allison could barely put one foot in front of the other. Lydia had decided that Allison should really have a better selection of heels and so she had spent an hour or so trying on various pairs and walking distances that felt far greater than the ten miles she had ran this morning. Lydia was having none of it.

"Allison sweetie, if you can't handle a little retail therapy, then how are you going to manage at such formal occasions when you are expected to wear heels? No man falls for a woman who falls."

"I know but Lydia seriously? Five pairs in five minutes is pushing it a little too far, and what happened to not giving in to society's desire to turn girls into emotionally insecure neurotics?"

"Yes well that's true of girls who can remember how to be in a relationship, you Allison Argent, need to be able to find a man and keep him longer than the heels you were trying"

"That's not true, I remember how to be in a relationship, there was Kevin from work, then Ed or James at college."

"Honey none of those relationships lasted longer than a month and we both know why, but if you aren't ready to face your problems then we can go and get something to eat and sit outside instead".

Bowing her head in defeat, Allison gestured to Lydia to lead the way. Lydia had a point, she supposed, but Allison knew none of those relationships were going anywhere, so there was no point in staying together, its not her fault she saw that quicker than the guys she was seeing did.

Lydia had found a relatively clean bench, absent of any unwanted gifts from the local birds, to sit on outside. She took her pre-prepared salad out of her bag, because why would she buy a salad that was bound to get the ratio of lettuce to other vegetables wrong, when she could bring her own? Allison herself took out the sandwich she had bought and sat down next to Lydia to eat.

Just as she opened her mouth to start a conversation, Lydia's phone went off, one quick glance at the caller ID told her all she needed to know.

"It's Stiles, give me a minute would you please Allison? Sorry"

Allison just smiled at Lydia and gestured for her to go ahead, there had to be something going on there Allison thought, Lydia was a hypocrite to tell Allison to get her relationships in order when she wouldn't commit to the one she knew she wanted.

Allison was just relieved to be off her feet and relaxing instead, looking around she was struck by how much she enjoyed staying still as the world moved around her, people flooded out of the shop behind her and onto the street she and Lydia were sitting in whilst across the road there was also a throng of people walking to and from A to B. It was quite mad really she thought, all those people walking around in so many directions it made her head hurt to watch them all.

One figure caught her eye across the street, the only other person amongst the horde that wasn't moving. It was man, turned so that part of his back was to her but she could still see some of his face. Something about his posture intrigued her, it seemed so familiar the way he stood straight but at the same time his shoulders sagged as if they were carrying the weight of the world on them.

Allison shielded the sun from her eyes to try and get a better look. He had tanned skin, dark hair and there looked to be something up with his jaw although she couldn't be sure from this angle.

Without realizing she had stood up from her seat and from this vantage point she had a better view, at this exact moment someone bumped into the figure she was watching so that he stumbled and regained his balance with his back to her. She couldn't see his face but she didn't need to, she could now see his left arm and the tattoo partially revealed by his t-shirt. Two black bands across his bicep. Allison walked towards him, as he turned around. She didn't hear Lydia call her name, "Allison, Allison?" it was like she had tunnel vision and all she could see was the man in front of her. She broke into a jog, across the pavement towards the figure that had just realized he was being watched and looked up.

"ALLISON", she heard Lydia's scream this time, following by the blaring of a car horn and the screeching of brakes. She turned to see a blue car coming to halt as it then hit her, she fell backwards upon impact and hit her head on the road. Fortunately for Allison the car had slowed down enough to prevent serious injury or death, but she could already feel the blood leaking from where she had hit her head on the road.

Suddenly all eyes were on her, as was Lydia.

"Allison what were you doing? You could have gotten yourself killed!"

Allison was barely listening, instead looking around the street trying to find the man from before.

"Allison". Lydia's voice had taken a firmer tone this time and she grabbed hold of her, "Answer me, what were you doing?"

"Scott! I saw Scott!" Allison was feeling hysterical, he had been right there and now she couldn't find him, he was gone. Her legs started to give way beneath her and she was feeling a headache coming on.

The driver had gotten out of the car but rather than shout at Allison for her carelessness he was more concerned for her safety.

"Oh my days I am so sorry, you just came out of nowhere but Jesus I am so sorry. Listen you need to go to a hospital, I will drive you it's the least I can do, are you ok?"

Allison hadn't heard a thing he had said, "I saw him Lydia, I saw Scott, he was right there". She started crying now, she didn't know why but it was like she couldn't stop. Plus her head really hurt.

Fortunately for her, Lydia Martin was not easily fazed, turning to the driver she said, "It's not your fault, and once she has calmed down she will tell you that herself, but yes we do need to go to the hospital so please take us". She then turned to Allison and took on a much soother tone, "It's ok Allison I believe you, but you've hurt your head pretty bad so we need to take you to the hospital ok?"

Allison just nodded, she was feeling worse by the second and it felt like the darkness had burst inside her. "Ok" she replied meekly, it was the only response she could come up with.

She got into the car with Lydia and allowed her to fuss over her injury while the driver of the car took them to the hospital, not really engaging with either Lydia or the driver, thoughts always going back to the man across the street, the jaw, the tattoo. She was starting to doubt herself, surely it couldn't have been him, he was gone never going to come back, wasn't he?


	5. Chapter 5

Two hours after the accident Allison was becoming very frustrated, frustrated at how long it was taking to be assessed and released, frustrated with her phone which had died, frustrated with Lydia who was teetering around her like she was a delicate vase that was on the edge of breaking.

She was mostly frustrated with herself.

How could she have been so stupid? Running across the road just because she thought she had seen Scott, when it wasn't even him. She had accepted that she had been wrong fairly easily, even had to convince Lydia that it had been a mistake. Because there was no chance that Scott would have been in Beacon Hills without them knowing, he would have seen someone.

She was an idiot, Allison told herself, an idiot who now had to sit and stew inside a hospital because she couldn't look across the road. Her head still hurt but the wound had been closed, all she was waiting on now were the results of her head scan, to make sure there was nothing more than a concussion to worry about.

Lydia was looking at Allison with concern and she could appreciate why, but she was over earlier and ready to put it behind her and she just wanted Lydia to do the same, unfortunately Lydia had a look on her face as if to say 'I think we should talk about this'.

Just as Lydia opened her mouth to say something her phone rang, prompting her to leave her thoughts to one side as she looked down.

Lydia handed the phone to Allison, "Its your dad"

Shit, Allison thought, she didn't want to worry him so she hadn't told him about the accident yet, but she was late for dinner, he would want to know why. Preparing her excuse in her mind she picked up the phone.

"Hi Dad, so sorry I'm not going to be able to get back in time for dinner, I just got caught up with Lydia, we lost track of time and my phone died, I should have text you earlier"

"Its ok Allison, getting hit by a car does that to you"

Allison could not believe her father knew, this was exactly what she didn't want, he would want an explanation and she would have to tell him what had happened and he would scare himself into believing that she would fall back into how things had been before. She was fine and she needed her dad to believe that. However she wanted to find out who the mole was first.

"How did you find out?" Allison asked, mentally preparing herself to stare daggers at Lydia.

"Isaac told me, he's on his way to pick you up now".

Of course Allison thought, Isaac and her dad were so tight that it didn't surprise her he blabbed. She would deal with him later.

"Look Dad, the short story is I'm fine. Just a split head and concussion. You'll get the longer story when I'm home I promise. You don't have to worry"

"I'm your father Allison, worrying is what I do"

"I know but not today, its fine trust me."  
Begrudgingly Chris Argent relented and said he'd see her when she got back, Allison then hung up and handed the phone to Lydia.

"Lydia have you told anyone why I crossed the road earlier?"

The strawberry blonde looked her in the eyes, "Of course not, this is your problem so you deal with it how you see fit, and I will go along with whatever you want".

Allison beamed at Lydia, she made it sound so clinical but Allison knew that it was due to the fact that Lydia was a good friend and she appreciated that. "Thanks".

The opening of the door to their room interrupted their conversation and Melissa McCall walked in. Allison felt a pang of guilt as she thought of how painful it would be for her if she knew why Allison was in here, so Allison resolved to tell her that it was a stupid accident.

She needn't of feared of course, like a lioness with her cubs Melissa was there to make sure they were both ok. 'Pack Mother' Isaac had called her once, it was a tag that stuck although no one would tell her that, because the mention of werewolves was linked to mentions of Scott.

"Girls I just found out you were in here or else I would have come sooner, how are you both doing? Allison how is your head feeling?"

"Hey Melissa, it's better than it was, but it still hurts a lot"

" Well then look when you cross the road, hunter or no hunter you aren't car proof. I know how much you two must be hating being in here so I've gotten your results, and also processed your information so once your ride gets here you can go"

Allison and Lydia both shared a look of relief, it had been far too long in here, and then she turned to Melissa, "Thank you so much, you really didn't have to but I'm super grateful you did".

"Well what's a pack mom for?" Both girls looked up, shocked at having been caught out, wondering how Melissa felt about her nickname but they were met with Melissa McCall's blinding smile, "Stiles told me, and I love that you think of me that way".

Melissa looked down at the chart in front of her and then back to Allison, "Your results came back negative for any internal damage so I just need Lydia to come with me and collect information for how to treat your head wound, how to clean it and what you can and cannot do while you have concussion and you can go. Do what the leaflets say Allison, even if you hate it; it's for your own good. I will be stopping by to check on you later this week. Bye Allison sweetie"

"Bye Melissa, thanks so much for helping out, see you soon!"

And with that Lydia and Melissa left the room with Melissa saying something about how Lydia 'never comes over anymore' leaving Allison alone in the hospital room.

She didn't have long with her thoughts as Isaac bustled into the room and wrapped her in a rib-crushing hug, which was unusual for him because he still struggled with close contact, before breaking away surveying her for any injury.

"Well hello to you too Isaac"

"Jesus Allison when Lydia called I was so worried, what are you doing getting hit by a car?"

"What are you doing telling my dad about it? Traitor."

Isaac looked slightly taken aback but Allison wasn't going to let it slide easily. Isaac knew how much she hated worrying her father.

"You got hit by a car, parents should know when that happens to their children"

"I was hardly hit by a car, it bumped me, and there was no need to tell him, it's just a concussion"

"But it could've been much more than that, and I wasn't going to keep your dad in the dark", Isaac and Allison stared at each other, it seemed neither was going to back down from their position until Isaac lowered his gaze and his expression softened. Allison felt guilty for the second time that day; she knew how much Isaac hated confrontation.

"You didn't answer my question, why were you running across the road like that?"

Allison debated whether or not to tell him the truth. On the one hand she trusted Isaac more than anyone, save perhaps Lydia, and he would be less inclined to think of her reaction as stupid but on the other, Allison felt like an idiot over what happened, she saw how much Lydia wanted it to be true, Isaac would feel the same and want to go out looking for him. If he did that the others would find out and join him in a search and when they didn't find him it would be her fault for getting the pack's hopes up and dashing them again. Unfortunately it was hard to lie to werewolves.

"I know, it was really stupid, like so dumb. I thought I saw someone I knew and I couldn't get their attention", not so far from the truth really Allison thought.

Isaac didn't seem convinced, "That can't be everything, I know you, you don't do stupid things like that". Allison inwardly cursed Isaac for his caring nature and tried to think of a way out it.

"Honestly Isaac that is the whole truth and I would like to try and stop reliving this embarrassing moment from my life and forget about it forever. It's going to be bad enough with Lydia and Stiles teasing me over it, not you too".

Isaac titled his head slightly like a bird considering the pickings of food in front it, "You're lying, and I don't need to be a werewolf to know that but it does help. I can smell that you're nervous. You never get nervous around me".

Allison groaned inwardly, she just couldn't catch a break. Seeing the concern in her friend's eyes she decided not to lie to him, she didn't want to worry Isaac and keeping this from him would do exactly that.

"Ok I give up, but don't over react and don't tell my dad".

She looked at Isaac for confirmation and he nodded at her earnestly so taking a breath she told him. "I thought I saw Scott".

Isaac's body language shifted immediately, his shoulders sagged and he sat down into the chair behind him. He didn't look at Allison with concern but instead with understanding.

"Oh".

"Look I know it wasn't him, and it was a really stupid thing to do and I feel like such an idiot so can we please not read too much into this? "

"What's there to read into? If I was in your shoes I would've done the same thing"

Allison looked up at Isaac and once again she was grateful, she had spent all day telling herself she was an idiot so it was nice to hear someone tell her they understood.

" Well fingers crossed it wasn't him otherwise I just made myself look like a complete fool, like some over-obsessed school girl who hasn't gotten over her crush"

"Allison… it was a lot more than a crush that and you know it and he knows that and for what its worth, I don't think it was Scott".

"Really, what makes you say that? It took me fifteen minutes to assure Lydia I was wrong"

"If it was Scott, he wouldn't have left you after you got hurt, I think it's physically impossible for him not to help people".

Allison snorted in derision, "I wouldn't be so sure about that"

Isaac looked up at Allison in surprise at her angry tone, unsure of where it had suddenly come from, "What do you mean?"

Looking back on this conversation Allison wouldn't know what lead to her outburst, perhaps it was the stress of the day, the build up of five years resentment or the disappointment of having come so close to seeing Scott before having that hope torn away from her but for whatever reason Allison suddenly lost her composure.

"Come on Isaac, Scott left! He left you, he left me, he left everyone and he hasn't come back once. It looks like we weren't important to him or we didn't earn the right to know what was going on with him. He becomes an Alpha and then disappears, leaving his pack, that goes against all werewolf instincts. I mean come on, two lousy letters? That's all he leaves, and they didn't say anything important! They didn't give any clues where he was going or why and they weren't even meant for us to read, just Stiles and his mom. Where was my letter Isaac? Was it really too much trouble to write one for me? Or maybe it was because I didn't mean enough to him, and the whole of last year really didn't add up to anything. It took me months to deal with him leaving, but he could leave me in five minutes! Stiles and I needed him and he wasn't there. If he could leave then he could easily have left me in the road today."

Isaac looked at Allison for a few moments then down at the floor, seemingly deep in thought, which annoyed Allison as she had just voiced thoughts which she had long kept to herself and now she had finally said them out loud she had no reaction from him. Eventually Isaac turned to her with a look of such concentration that Allison thought he was evaluating and choosing every single word he was about to use.

"Before he left I thought of Scott as one of my best friends, to be honest I still do. When he left I was confused, I thought maybe he was scared, freaked out about becoming an Alpha or that he had had enough of the shit we had to deal with, I mean Scott's been through more than any of us. I always thought he was gonna come back you know? When I realized he wasn't it hurt, of course it did but I came to realize that for whatever reason he left, it was the right one. I mean this is Scott we are talking about; he always does the right thing. And you know that Allison, I don't need to be a mind reader to know you trust Scott left for the right reasons because everyone does. And that helped me understand that he didn't abandon us, you're right he left but he didn't abandon us. I get why him not leaving a letter hurts Allison and I don't really know why he didn't leave you one, but you can't expect him not to leave one for his mom and Stiles, for a long time they were all he had, they needed those letters, maybe he thought you didn't and that you could deal without. If that's why then he was right. "

Isaac paused before continuing, "And just for the record, I think that leaving you will have hurt him, in ways that werewolf healing can't help"

Allison wasn't sure how to react to that, she knew Isaac was right, she knew Scott left for a reason but the difference between knowing and feeling something was great and sometimes all she could feel was anger and a sense of abandonment, other times all she could do was miss him. Once again Allison felt frustrated with herself and a sense of helplessness, she couldn't do anything about how she felt despite how much she wanted too.

Sensing her distress, Isaac walked over to Allison and hugged her.

"Come on, lets go get Lydia and drive you home, maybe grab something to eat before we get to yours?"

As if waiting for a cue Allison could hear her stomach growl and there was no chance Isaac hadn't also heard, she began to laugh to at that.

"Ok, let's go".

So with any further discussion the two left the room, Allison felt better for telling Isaac, she wasn't sure where her tirade came from but it seemed as if she had literally unloaded her thoughts to him, and his response had helped her marry up her frustrations with Scott to her faith in him.

/

Standing on the roof of a building facing the hospital Scott had been watching events in Allison's room unfold the entire time but he had been unable to hear them. Of course it had been him that Allison saw from across the street although there was no way that the pack could have known that.

He had told himself he had to see her, to know how she was doing and that afterwards he could focus on finding the werewolf in Dee's vision but it was more than that, he needed to smell her scent, to hear her voice, see her eyes. Scott McCall was a strong willed man, but even True Alphas couldn't fight what the heart wanted and so he had gone to see her.

In Scott's mind it had been a disaster, which wasn't far from the truth, but as he tended to do, Scott blamed himself.

She saw him; the car hit her because she was running towards him. Not only had Scott almost made his presence and therefore the pack's presence common knowledge but also Allison had been hurt, all because of him. It had taken all of his willpower not to run over and check on her but he had to think clinically and therefore he couldn't go to her.

And then there was her and Isaac. He had watched Isaac comfort her, hug her and he had jumped to one conclusion; they were together. After he saw they had left the hospital with Lydia he had began his journey back to the station.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid Scott' he chided himself, of course Allison had moved on, it was stupid for him to think that she still felt the same way, the fact she was seeing Isaac made sense as well, considering it was he who had been her tether during the ritual. He couldn't even bring himself to be mad, he had left them behind, and he couldn't expect them to move on with their lives.

So all in all it had been a pretty terrible day for Scott.

As he entered the station the others looked up at him, then carried on with their activities, he saw Connor, Dee and Eli in conversation by a map of Beacon Hills; the plan was that the pack would familiarize themselves with the area so if it came down to it they knew how to reach the others or safety. Two teenage boys, Sam and Wallace, were playing one on ones with a basketball they had procured from somewhere; Scott made a mental note to ask where they had found it.

Sam was fair skinned, medium height and had sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes with a very square jaw whereas Wallace was short, with a shaved head, thin face and green eyes, Sam and Wallace were seventeen and sixteen respectively but the difference between the two was profound, a result of events that had shaped the two growing up.

When Sam was twelve his pack became embroiled in a conflict with another pack over territory, the fight between Sam's more peaceful pack and the aggressors in the other pack had been one sided and Sam's pack had been slaughtered, Scott, Dee and Connor had just arrived in time to save Sam from his family's fate, convincing the other pack to let him live. Having travelled with Scott and the others since he was twelve Sam had developed a sense of responsibility for the younger members of the pack, he felt that as the more experienced wolf it was his duty to protect Wallace, Eli and Flo, as such he tried to be mature beyond his years.

Wallace on the other hand was much more immature, and was likely to be seen joking around with Eli or teasing Flo but it had taken a long time for Wallace to be so carefree. In an unfortunately common event, Wallace's pack had been wiped out by a group of hunters, Wallace had been at school when the hunters made their attack so when he got home he had found his pack mates slaughtered in their home. He had fled the house and was roaming the woods overwhelmed by grief when Scott had found him, the event had left him traumatized but two years with Scott's pack had helped him come out of his shell to be the joker the pack knew him to be. The arrival of Eli a year ago had helped, as the two boys quickly realized they had the same personality and were known as the resident 'bromance' in the pack, Scott had often thought the two of them reminded him of he and Stiles when they were younger, blissfully unaware of what happened when the moon was full.

Scott walked past his pack and onto a railway car; he took a seat at the back, closed his eyes and tried to clear his head.

"So I take it checking in on them didn't go well"

Scott opened his eyes and saw Katie had snuck onto the train and sat across from him.

"No, it didn't"

"Care to tell me what happened?"

"Allison got hit by a car when she saw me, well almost saw me"

Katie whistled, "Wow and I thought you were kidding about how messed up this town was, you're here one day and already the people you care about are close to death"

Scott looked at her with wide eyes

"What? Come on you can't expect me not to joke about that, because if we don't you're going to hold this against yourself until the day you die. Is she ok?"

"I think so, I followed her to the hospital, watched her get checked up, they released her today so I think it's a concussion"

"You didn't go to her after she was hit?"

"No"

"Look Scott, I know you want to keep everyone safe but maybe you don't have to hide from them. They are your best friends, your family, you deserve to see them, and they deserve to see you. I know you think you're doing the right thing but-"

"The right thing would have been to keep away from them, from her. She got hit by that car today because of me, if I wasn't there it wouldn't have happened, I shouldn't have thought I could watch them. I'm putting them in danger by just being here, going to see them would put them in greater danger"

"How often are you going to put others first before you crack Scott? We don't know if the Apex Pack are following us, we could have lost them, you don't know if you are going to be here again so make the most it, don't you want to see them?"

Scott turned to her then, his face fallen, as if the suggestion that he wouldn't want to see his friends was the most hurtful thing in the world.

"How can you ask me that? You know me Katie; you know how much I miss them. But it's like you said, we don't know if we are safe and if we aren't then I put them in danger. Today was a sign and its not one I'm going to ignore"

Scott looked at Katie, his sister and could only imagine the pain of losing her; he had no right to potentially bring that pain to his old pack in Beacon Hills. He would not and could not do that; he had to protect his pack, old and new.

"But what if they want to see you?"

"They've moved on with their lives Katie, I can't intrude on that".

"How do you know?"

"I saw it, at the hospital"

The look on Katie's face then seemed to suggest that she finally understood what was bothering Scott so much. "You mean Allison moved on".

Once again Scott was struck by how easy it was for Katie to understand him, to see through what he projected for others to see and to make him tell her the things he would only ever tell one person.

"Yeah"

"Do you know the guy? Because point me in the right direction and I could break his fingers, or make it look like he's cheating so Allison dumps him"

"Its Isaac"

"Ok whaaaaat? Isaac as in the guy who had unshakeable faith in you, would follow you into battle against angry Alpha's Isaac? Who came to you for a place to crash Isaac? Your Isaac"

"Yeah my Isaac"

"Well I'll be dammed" Katie looked up at Scott, she moved across to sit next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry big guy"

"Its ok, I shouldn't have hoped things would be the same, I should've known that she and everyone else would move on. And I guess its better she's with my Isaac than some guy I don't know, because then I'd be bound to set you on him"

Katie chuckled at that, "And I would break him", she looked up at Scott; "You were hoping she'd feel the same because you feel the same". It was a declaration more than a question. "Five years, it's been five years and you still…"

"I still love her, yeah."

"Ok, well then we do this your way, no complaints, no arguments, this is your turf and we should all respect that, no matter how much we all want to see them"

Scott looked at her with surprise on his face, "You guys want to see them?"

"Are you kidding? Of course we do, these are the guys you told us about in your stories, who you grew up with, fought with, became the badass werewolf we all know and love with. That's like meeting celebrities or something but your wishes will be respected. Because you're the Alpha, and its the pack's job to make their alpha happy, and because we love you"

Scott felt the first smile break onto his face all day, sure things had been terrible, they hadn't found the werewolf yet and he didn't think he could see his old friends, but there was a point to his leaving, he was doing some good and now he had his pack. Thank God for silver linings he thought.

**Author's Note: Alright guys so I found this to be a hard chapter to write, I don't think it's on par with the others but don't give up on it yet, things are about to pick up I promise.**

**Thanks to those of you who have reviewed, there aren't that many so it is really nice when they do come through.**

**Cheers**


	6. Chapter 6

The smell of bacon wafting into his room caused Stiles to open his eyes, 'oh god yes' were the first words that flew through his brain, his first thought and certainly not the last of the day. Stiles sat up, stretched his arms and yawned before pulling the covers back and getting out of bed. He walked over to the curtains and pulled them back, looking outside he saw bright Californian sun, not a cloud in the sky and for once next doors children had managed to avoid waking him up with their incessant screaming. Today was going to be a great day Stiles decided.

He looked at his clock which read eight minutes to nine, not required at the hospital until eleven he was delighted that he had a couple of hours to enjoy Melissa's cooking and get ready for work. Stiles was in and out of the shower, changed and downstairs in a flash.

Melissa was busy at the stove, the only one in the kitchen when he got downstairs. Stiles poured a cup of coffee before sitting down at the table behind Melissa.

"Good morning"

Apparently Melissa wasn't aware of his arrival because she jumped up at his greeting before turning around to face him.

"Jeez Stiles don't sneak up on me like that, I'm not young enough to deal with scares like that"

"Oh but you are young enough to deal with werewolves, kanimas and darachs"

"Special circumstance Stiles, now grab yourself a plate, I'm making bacon and eggs with muffins"

Stiles was pretty sure he could feel his stomach do backflips in celebration at this news and so he didn't need to be told twice, loading the aforementioned food Melissa had prepared onto his plate. He wolfed down three bites, thought of how funny the pun wolfed down was considering his friend group, wondered what his friends were having for breakfast then remembered his conversation with Scott about rabbits and werewolf ovens before then regaining his previous train of thought.

"Oh hey where is my dad? I'm pretty sure there is no way he would miss this breakfast for the world"

"He already ate, he was called into work so he had to make a grab and dash before setting in"

Naturally any mention of John Stilinski and his work had Stiles' attention, "Is everything ok, what's was he called in for, anything big, anything interesting?"

Melissa smiled at Stiles, amused by his presumption that even if Melissa knew why John was at work that she would tell him. She then realized that he presumed correctly, somehow Stiles always managed to get her to talk but fortunately she had no idea why John had been called in so there was no chance of her caving in.

"No Stiles I have no idea, but your dad is the Sheriff, it is probably Sheriff stuff"

"Sheriff stuff hmmm" Stiles mulled the thought over for a moment, he then remembered something his dad said about signing off for new cruisers so he took that to be the reason for his absence and left it at that.

"So what time do you need to be at the hospital Stiles, I'm leaving in half an hour so I could give you a lift if you'd like?"

"Ah thanks Melissa but I'm not in for a couple hours so I'm just gonna stay here and chill"

"Ok no worries, have you heard from Allison recently?"

"I spoke to her yesterday, she's doing ok but she is pretty bummed about having to stay cooped up, you know what she's like"

Melissa nodded in agreement before gathering her dishes and taking them over to the sink to clean.

Stiles had been concerned about Allison naturally, hearing Lydia scream at her on the phone had been disconcerting to say the least so when he could he got over to the Argent's apartment to see how she was doing. She seemed in good spirits, she hadn't minded his teasing of her for not looking where she was going but something had seemed off, Lydia and Allison kept sharing looks whilst he and the twins had joked with them. Stiles put it down to the fact that they were a bit shook up about it so the boys stopped teasing and they all kept her company until late into the night.

Melissa said goodbye to Stiles and made her way to the hospital leaving him home alone. Stiles contemplated whether he should get some studying in before he had to go into the hospital or if he should have a quick game. Studies had suggested that video gaming leads to improved dexterity, Stiles thought. Surgeons need to have good dexterity. Also good reaction times. Video games help improve reaction times, so video games help people become better surgeons as much as studying does. It was decided; Stiles would spend his time playing video games.

He had flopped himself down on the couch, grabbed his controller and turned the TV and the console on when his phone began to ring. Stiles was not impressed "Oh Jesus! Couldn't have rang one minute before I got comfortable?' He looked at the caller ID, it was his father who had just been called into work, a million different scenarios flashed through his mind, Dad died, Lydia died, Melissa died, oh no no no no no no no no, previous reasons to worry all creeping up on him, the darkness starting to swell. He answered the phone.

"Dad?"

"Yeah Stiles who else is it going to be?" Stiles breathed out a sigh of relief; his dad was ok. "Look I need you to meet me in the preserve, by Lookout Point, I've rang Melissa to get you off work"

"What's going on Dad?"

"You'll find out soon enough son, just…get here soon will ya?"

"Ok, I'm getting into my jeep now, bye".

If a sense of panic had begun to creep on Stiles before he answered the phone, it had bowled him over now. He got into his jeep and drove to where his dad told him to be whilst he tried to work out what could have happened.

His dad wouldn't call him if he didn't need him, he wouldn't need Stiles if he knew what he was dealing with, so his dad didn't know what he was dealing with which meant it had to be supernatural but what if it wasn't supernatural? There hadn't been any flare-ups in three years, well that they knew of, oh god what if they had been murders they didn't know of, what if they had been oblivious the whole time? No that wouldn't be the case, they would've seen something, Deaton would of known. So what if it wasn't supernatural, then it had to be personal, which made him think of his friends again, what if one of them was hurt? But it would have had to be something pretty powerful to hurt Isaac, Derek or the Twins, which linked back to his supernatural theory. No, there had to be a non supernatural reason, like if his friends had died, oh no that wasn't helping, but it was at Lookout Point, so who out of his non supernatural friends went there? Not Lydia she had no reason to go there, nothing drawing her there. But Allison did, that was where she and Scott used to meet, Allison would go there, and she was concussed, oh no Allison was dead. But that didn't make sense, he saw her last night so then she couldn't have gone there. So who else was there? Scott. Scott could be there. But then why wouldn't he have come to see him? Why would his dad call him to Lookout Point?

Stiles chided himself for getting his hopes up, Scott wasn't coming back. But it was reasonable for him to get his hopes up, Scott was his best friend, of course he'd hope it was him. 5 years didn't stop you from missing someone, didn't mean you weren't friends anymore. Scott was out there; Scott was still his best friend. You don't give up on your best friend. _But Scott gave up on you_ a small voice whispered in his head. No that wasn't true Stiles told himself, Scott wouldn't do that, that wasn't Scott.

It was a testament to the strength of their friendship that Stiles had never once been angry with Scott, not in the immediate period after his absence or the years after that. He had been angry but never with Scott. Stiles had never had to convince himself that Scott had left for a reason or he was doing something good. He just knew, as sure as he knew his own name. So Stiles didn't hold it against him, didn't resent him. He missed him and it was as simple as that.

Stiles had suddenly realized that he had diverged off his previous train of thought and that he wasn't far from Lookout Point. He was afraid of what he was gong to find out but there was no point trying to wish it away.

He parked up next to a familiar black Camaro when he arrived; Stiles killed the engine and got out.

A voice from behind him spoke, "Took you long enough"

Stiles turned to face Derek, who was no more than 10 meters leaning away leaning against a tree. 'How did I not see him? He does this every time' was Stiles' immediate reaction to his presence before he then reassured himself that it was a good idea to have to the older werewolf around, for fear of supernatural attack.

He reminded himself that if Derek was there, it had to be a supernatural problem. 'Well fuck 'Stiles muttered to himself.

"Why did you bring the Camaro? Doesn't that ruin your whole creeper wolf vibe?"

Derek just rolled his eyes at Stiles, "I live twenty miles away at the other end of the preserve Stiles"

"Well yeah but you're a werewolf, twenty miles is nothing to you"

"Just because I'm a werewolf doesn't mean I want to run everywhere"

Stiles smirked at him, "Whatever, I think you're getting lazy in your old werewolf age, you aren't the wolf you used to be"

"Shut up Stiles"

"Okay okay, looks like someone's a bit of a grumpywolf"

Derek looked like he was contemplating burying Stiles alive, which is not something he would have put past him when John Stilinski arrived onto the scene.

"Good you guys are here, we need to make this quick before the forensics arrive so follow me"

Stiles had stopped listening once he heard the word forensics; forensics meant there was a body which meant there had been a murder, a supernatural murder. Stiles looked at Derek but there was no shock on his face, it occurred to Stiles that he could probably smell the body, which was not something he envied.

Stiles was aware of the darkness reaching up and smothering his heart but he wasn't prepared to think positively, it had been three years since they had to deal with this crap, and now it was back, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to get involved, he was scared of how much more hurt he and his friends would have to deal with.

But they didn't get a choice, something Scott had said years ago echoed throughout Stiles' head 'if I have the ability to do something about it, then I have to try'. Stiles borrowed Scott's strength from those words, if his friend was out there doing something for the last five years because he could do something about it, then Stiles could deal with this threat.

The three of them had reached a tarpaulin sheet that undoubtedly covered the victim; Stiles began to brace himself for what he was going to have to see. He was a surgeon in training, he looked at human bodies everyday.

John looked up at Stiles and Derek with a reluctant expression on his face, as if he didn't want to have to burden the two men with the sight of what was under there. The actual reason for the expression on his face was that he didn't want to burden himself with looking at the atrocity under the sheets again.

"Ok guys, I have to warn you, this is bad, I mean _bad_, I've never seen anything like this".

Stiles looked Derek for confirmation he was ready, he just wore the same stone cold expression he always had, so Stiles nodded at his father. The Sheriff pulled back the sheet.

It was horrific.

The first thing Stiles thought was 'bad, really? Bad is the only word my dad had for this' because in truth it was like something out of Stiles' worst nightmares. He had seen bodies before, seen the victims of the Kanima, the Darach or Peter but none of them could prepare him for this. He could swear that he even saw Derek flinch.

It was a man, or more specifically what was left of him. His stomach and the organs inside of his body were missing whilst claw marks covered his chest, arms and face, his legs had been shredded so that the muscle was absent from his bones and his throat was a mess, the Adam's apple gone. But the image that was to be burned into Stiles' mind for the rest of his life was the expression on the man's face, his mouth open as if he had died screaming, his eyes wide in horror looking down towards his body.

It was obvious that he had been eaten, alive.

The Sheriff put the tarpaulin back over the body, for which all three men were thankful, it was a lot for them to stomach. Stiles could feel the bile rising in his throat, the thought of which reminded him of the victim's lack thereof at which point it was too much for him, past experience or not and he had to walk away to throw up.

So much for stomaching it.

Whether it was because he had thrown up, the sight he had just seen or the effects of the darkness weighing him down, Stiles felt weak but his father had asked for his help, so he needed to put up with it for at least a couple minutes more. He walked back over to where Derek and his father stood waiting.

Stiles felt the sooner they started talking the sooner they got it over with , and Stiles could always be called upon to start talking.

"Okay well I think we are all in agreement that _this' _he said pointing to the body, "is not normal, it is very, very bad, something out _there_" Stiles started waving his hands in all directions of Beacon Hills Preserve, "is very, very bad!"

John Stilinski, unperturbed by his son's reaction spoke up "We all agree Stiles, but the question is what did this?"

All three men fell back into a brief silence; Stiles racked his brain for any clues that would help them work it out. Stiles had learnt a lot through the years, partly due to the experiences he had endured and partly due to the lessons Deaton had taught Stiles after he had insisted that he needed to know what could be out there.

Reluctantly Stiles thought back to the state of the victim and tried to use whatever evidence was available to work out what they could be dealing with, there were claw marks on the chest, they were small well small comparatively, they were still pretty big just not in the supernatural world but claws were claws and that was not good, it did however narrow down the list of suspects. Stiles thought about the Kanima's victims, definitely no resemblance to this guy so that was out. The bites were relatively sized to the claw marks, which meant that this thing was not a fully transformed animal but a hybrid of human and beast.

Who was Stiles kidding, he knew what they were dealing with and it was time to face up to it; werewolves were back in Beacon Hills. Well murderous werewolves were back in Beacon Hills; the good werewolves had never left, although Peter was a murderous werewolf and he had stayed. Okay, actively murderous werewolves were back in Beacon Hills.

Standing up straight he looked both men in the eye, "A werewolf did this"

John Stilinski closed his eyes and muttered something under his breath whilst Derek just nodded.

`"It's scent is all over here but I wasn't sure, I've never seen or heard of werewolves doing this. I was trying to think of something that could mimic one but I can't think of anything"

"Well what about that omega that Gerard killed? Scott told me he stole a liver from a body in the cemetery and also a heart from a dead guy in an ambulance, he said something about omegas being more feral"

John Stilinski looked up at that, "That was a werewolf too?" he paused, "Actually that makes a lot of sense".

Derek considered Stiles' point for a moment before answering, "He was right, they are more feral but did he also mention that the omega was homeless? Chances are he hadn't eaten in weeks and he was desperate, but even then he didn't attack anyone, werewolves don't kill to eat, they do it for fun."

"Well that's just charming and also really considerate, because killing someone for food is just so wrong but if it was for fun? I get that and I wouldn't hold it against the werewolf about to murder someone!"

Derek just ignored Stiles' rant "This, this is wrong, the werewolf that did this, is wrong"

"Well that's great, just great, we get murderous alpha's that turn out to be vengeful relatives, giant lizards that are werewolves with unresolved identity issues, demon wolves who get off on having perfect packs and now werewolves that are just wrong, thereby making everything we've dealt with before _'_normal'!"

John Stilinski was the next to speak, "Look guys, thanks for coming out but forensics are going to be here any moment now so you two should probably head back, we will get everyone together soon and decide how we are going to deal with this"

"What are you going to tell them?" Stiles asked.

"We're going to have to say it was an animal attack and frankly with the body looking like that it shouldn't be too hard to convince anyone that's the truth."

In that moment Stiles felt truly awful for his father, once again he had to blame animal attacks for the murders in Beacon Hills, and even though he now knew the truth, there was nothing he could do. Questions would be asked of the Sheriff, and he would once again be unable to answer them and above all else, people in his town were being murdered again and at the moment he was powerless to prevent it.

Stiles and Derek took their leave of the Sheriff and made their way back to where they had parked. Walking to the Jeep Stiles was struck by the lack of wildlife in the area, the lack of animal activity. It was as if the whole forest was mourning the end of the peace that had settled in this town and unprepared for the chaos ahead, the living breathing inhabitants of the area had fled leaving only the trees present to watch over proceedings and witness the death that had become as regular as the shedding of their leaves. And at the center of it all, one tree would welcome and drink in the anarchy to come.

Derek was the first to break the silence, to snap Stiles out of his thoughts, "We're going to stop this Stiles. We've done it before and we'll do it again. I know the scent now; I can track it with the others."

Stiles was not ready to look at the bright side, he knew that it never stopped with one death. "What if it's more than one Derek? You said it was wrong so it may not be just a feral omega, it could be worse".

"Then we stop them. You, Isaac, the Twins and I. Allison and her father, Lydia and Deaton. Our Pack."

"We should go tell them"

"Ok let's do that now. I'll tell the boys and Peter, you tell Lydia, Deaton and the Argents"

"Ok"

"We will get a pack meeting together sometime this week"

Derek could tell Stiles was yet to be convinced, he grabbed Stiles by the shoulder, "Stiles trust me, we _will _stop this"

"Alright man, see you soon".

The former alpha and surgeon in training parted ways and Stiles got into his jeep and turned it on, he would go to tell the Argent's first, Chris and Allison could help decide on a plan of action and how best to catch this werewolf. He looked at the time on his radio, ten-thirty.

Today was a shitty day.

**A.N. So in this chapter I've tried to show how Stiles thinks, tried to ramble a bit like Stiles does so if you think that worked then let me know. If not the I can change it.**

**Again cheers for the love guys, it's always nice to get a review.**


	7. Chapter 7

Lydia loved math, the way in which the pieces fit together, everything could be accounted for and the absolute assurance she was right. Math was dependable; it never lied to her or tried pull the wool over her eyes, it was honest and straight to the point, much like Lydia herself. Of course having a genius level IQ and a natural talent for the subject helped but for the most part Lydia just enjoyed the simplicity of it all. She had once tried describing why she liked it so much to her friends but they didn't understand, not that she'd expected them too.

So it wasn't as surprising as some may have thought that at one o'clock that day Lydia had settled herself down on her couch and began to study, without the need for a job Lydia had more free time on her hands than the others and so she choose to be constructive with her down time and prepare for her next degree because 'anyone can have two degrees nowadays'. Once again Lydia had left her friends confused with that comment, especially the Twins who didn't have one between them, although that was more due to their previous werewolf related activities as opposed to their intelligence.

Halfway through her 'casual reading' a loud knocking at the front door broke her concentration causing Lydia to sigh. As opposed to stopping at the universally agreed point of politeness said knocking continued which could only mean one thing, Stiles was at the door.

Lydia saved her page and put her book down, got up from her seat and walked to the door to save her ears from the constant ringing that was threatening to deafen her, as if she didn't have enough trouble with hearing things as it was. She stopped by the mirror in the hallway to check her appearance; she sorted her hair and took her lipstick out to reapply it when she caught herself. Why did it matter to her how Stiles saw her, she saw Stiles all the time. She steeled her gaze and opened the door at which point Stiles walked straight through and into her house.

"It's common courtesy to wait until you are invited in Stiles"

Stiles looked back at her, "What-oh sorry" before walking into her living room where he began pacing. Lydia had seen her fair share of occasions where Stiles worked himself up into a frenzy and she could tell that he was very agitated, it had been a long time since she had seen him this worried, the last time probably being three years ago. Lydia's genius caliber brain quickly made the connection.

Three years ago when they last had to deal with something supernatural in Beacon Hills.

Inside Lydia felt her heart plummet at the thought of having to go through that fight again, at the thought of finding herself at the scene of murders without any idea of how she got there, at the thought of seeing more dead bodies. But she was Lydia Martin, she wasn't fazed by anything, a strong woman took everything in her stride and she was a strong woman.

Stiles hadn't noticed the internal debate going on within Lydia Martin, he was engaged in an internal debate of his own as to whether he should convince Lydia to get out of town until it all blew over or more rationally, warn her and ask her to call if she felt anything. At the moment he was swinging towards getting her out of town. He was still pacing around her living room like a wind up toy with plenty to spare, and Lydia knew she had to calm him down to get any information out of him.

"Stiles!"

He span round on the spot in a similar fashion to a soldier on parade to look at her, a small voice in Lydia's head thought she liked how quick he was to respond to her, like how what she had to say was the most important thing in the world,

"What's going on?"

Stiles seemed to deflate, he stopped moving, his shoulders slumped and he breathed out heavily before looking back to her.

"People are getting murdered again"

"How many?"

"Just one, at the moment anyway but isn't that too much? My dad called me out today to the preserve, when Derek and I got there my dad took us to the body." Stiles paused, as if he didn't want to go on, he probably didn't Lydia thought, she of all people knew how horrific it could be to find a dead body, she still shivered at the thought of the boy at the pool.

Stiles continued, "He had been eaten, alive and we are pretty sure it was a werewolf that did it. And if that wasn't bad enough Derek says this one was _wrong_, as in terrible by werewolf standards. I already told Allison and her dad, Derek told the boys and Deaton will have to know as well."

Stiles sat down on the couch, closed his eyes and put his hands to his head; Lydia thought that he was stressed, even by Stiles standards. She sat down next to him and put her hand on his leg. "We'll stop this Stiles, we always do"

Stiles opened his eyes and gazed at her, "Yeh that's what Derek said, it doesn't make it any easier, I still hate that this is our life." Stiles paused to take a deep breath before letting it out, "I wish Scott was here, he always managed to keep a clear head and make me feel better about it, I knew that he wouldn't stop until it was over and that made me feel safer"

Lydia heart had broken for Stiles many times during the aftermath of Scott's disappearance and now it broke all over again. She was struck by how tired he looked, with the stress of the danger that had befallen them, the pain of losing his best friend and the fact that he worried about everything and everyone it didn't surprise her. That's who he was, Stiles was stronger than any of them and he never got the credit for it, he had gone through everything with Scott even when he didn't have to, he didn't have powers or hunter training but he threw himself into every problem and suffered the consequences for it. Lydia was determined to make sure he knew that she was aware of it.

"I know I can't do what Scott does, but I am smarter than him and so when I give you a guarantee that we will stop this you better believe me Stilinski"

He smiled at that and Lydia's stomach began to flutter but she told herself that was because she hadn't eaten since eight.

"I always believe you Lydia"

A silence stretched between them, not uncomfortable, not tense but it was something, Lydia became aware of the fact that her hand was still on Stiles' leg and as she looked down at it so did he, before both set of eyes looked back at each other. Lydia noted how brown his eyes were, the shape of his nose, his mout-

"So don't worry Stiles, we have the pack, and you, Allison and I will find this werewolf and send him packing". Lydia was not going to let that train of thought develop.

Stiles' whole demeanor changed after she spoke, he became very on edge and stood right back up, "What did you say?"

Lydia was confused, "The wolves, you, me and Allison, we can stop this"

"No, no no no no, you can't get involved Lydia, you can't go after this"

"Stiles what do you mean? Of course I can"

"No! You can't, you shouldn't. Lydia this is dangerous, you'll get hurt and I won't let that happen"

Lydia was incredulous; did Stiles really think he could keep her out of this? That she was some helpless girl who needed saving? She had been in this as long as he had, whether she had known it or not, and there was no chance she was going to duck out now. She was a banshee's for God's sake.

"Stiles you're being ridiculous, I've been involved in everything, why would that change now? I've dealt with danger before Stiles"

"But not like this! Lydia you didn't see the body, this is worse than anything I've seen, and there could be more than one, we don't know anything about it"

"So we all just bury our heads in the sand and forget about it?"

"No of course not, we have to stop it but I don't want you to get involved"

"And what if I ask you not to get involved? That it's too easy for you to get killed, would you stay out of it?"

Stiles opened his mouth to reply before he closed it. Lydia knew she had him, that there was no way he could argue against that, no-one ever beat Lydia Martin in an argument. She continued, "I'm a banshee Stiles, I would be involved in this even if I did everything in my power to stop it. Fighting just makes it worse, so I am going to be involved in this and we are going to stop it."

"Bu-"

"No buts Stiles. You could get hurt just as easily as I could but I'm not going to ask you to stay out of it, I know you wouldn't so I don't expect you to ask me".

Once again Stiles demeanor changed, once again he became subdued as he resigned himself to being unable to convince Lydia.

"Just… promise me you'll be careful Lydia, don't go anywhere alone or if you get any banshee feelings call someone, call Allison, call me. I'm not asking you to stay out of this because I think you're weak or helpless. I'm asking because if something happens to you I'll be devastated… I should go, someone needs to tell Deaton".

And with that Stiles walked out leaving Lydia alone with her thoughts.

For once Lydia Martin didn't know what to think, the whole exchange with Stiles had left her confused, and on top of that there was a killer werewolf on the loose. Stiles had never tried to keep her out of things before, he had always respected her ability to deal so whilst on one hand it was ridiculous of him to ask her to do so now, it also suggested that Stiles was very concerned about what was out there. Then there was the moment before that.

Lydia wasn't an idiot; she knew there was something between her and Stiles, or at least something between them that she had never had with any other boy in her life. What she didn't know was how to deal with that, and Lydia didn't like not knowing what to do, so she did nothing which whilst uncharacteristic of her was the safe option. Speaking of safe, Lydia and the others now had to keep the town safe from its latest threat, which was sure to get in the way of Lydia dealing with whatever feelings she had for Stiles.

She looked at her book lying open on the table, so easy to understand and make sense of, unlike everything that had happened in the last ten minutes. Sighing Lydia closed the book and put in away on her bookshelf, she then took out her phone to call Allison, it looked like math and things easy to understand were going to have to wait.

/

Katie was in trouble and she had no idea how to get out of it. She started to question how she had even got into this position, what events had lead to her to where she was now as she was faced with the one of the toughest decisions of her life.

Sprite or Dr Pepper?

Flo and Sam looked at her expectantly, waiting for her judgment call whilst Katie was fully aware of the repercussions of making the wrong choice. Flo loved Sprite, could drink the stuff all day and if Katie didn't side with her she would have complained that she sided with Sam because he was older. If Katie chose Sprite, then Sam would've complained that it was a girl thing and unfair to Dee, Eli and himself who swore Dr Pepper was the answer to world thirst. Personally she was into Dandelion and Burdock, an old-school drink but it had been her father's favorite and that was enough for her. Sadly no one else was on the same page as her.

Decisions decisions.

The answer came to her in her own Eureka moment, she knew how to avoid this and all other potential arguments over shopping within the pack. It was just a shame that her moment of inspiration related to grocery shopping and not something important Katie thought.

Try telling that to Sam and Flo she reasoned, having seen the intensity on their faces as they waited it was as if which drink to buy was the most important problem the pack faced.

"I have decided"

Sam and Flo looked both relieved and stressed at the same time, it was true that Katie had taken a while to think this decision through so that's why they were relieved, stressed because they might not get their drink.

"We will buy Sprite "

"YES!" came Flo's response and she jumped in the air and proceeded to cartwheel down to the aisle, fortunately there were no other customers in this section. Sam just huffed and muttered something about 'letting the boys down'.

Katie spoke up to silence any discontent, " Scott prefers Sprite".

And as simple as that, both Sam and Flo quieted down and grabbed an extra bottle which didn't surprise Katie, everyone in the pack wanted to make sure Scott was happy so much so that it came before their own preferences.

Katie knew how packs worked, she knew that betas had a strong sense to protect and take care of their alpha but she thought it was more than that, that it was just something Scott brought out in them.

It had only taken Katie a week to understand why Scott was the True Alpha, he had given up any chance at a normal life to join Dee and help other werewolves, he truly was one of a kind. Of course it was pretty cool that their alpha was the rarest of all werewolves, something to brag about when they occasionally met other packs. But it wasn't his status as the True Alpha that made him special to the pack; it was what he had done and what he continued to do.

The truth was he had saved them all, each and every one of them from the darkest periods of their lives. When they had all lost hope, consumed by a feeling of abandonment and were struggling to hold themselves together he had appeared with the pack. He had helped them put back their lives, made them feel wanted and secure and he had built the family they now had. Whether he knew it or not, the whole pack felt that way and tried to return the favor whenever they could. After all he had given up so much for them, his home, his family, his other pack. He had defended them, fought for them, he had even killed, all to protect these werewolves he had no reason to help but he did anyway. But whilst he protected them there was no one to protect him.

They all knew Scott dealt with more than most, even considering the horrible circumstances that he had found all of them in. They knew the stories, they knew about the darkness, about his other pack but only Katie knew how bad it could really be for him. When he couldn't sleep, plagued by nightmares, when he couldn't breath because of the suffocating effect of the darkness, when he couldn't close his eyes without seeing the faces of those he had killed, regardless of how justifiable his actions had been. And the constant, aching, throbbing of his heart when he thought of those he had left behind. The people you loved were called your anchor because they kept you human, but sometimes it was more accurate call them so because the thought of them, missing them weighed you down. Scott was constantly weighed down but it was his nature to struggle anyway, to put his problems away in order to help others. And now he was home, unable to see those he loved most because he was taking care of others.

Which is why, when she and the pack could, they took care of him, even if it was buying his favorite drink.

Katie, Flo and Sam finished the grocery shopping and left the store without detection, all in all a successful venture Katie thought, they could keep their anonymity going for a long time, they were used to it, so maybe if everything worked out, they could find this other werewolf and maybe then Scott would see that it was ok to see his friends. Maybe they could mee-

"Shit"

Flo had stopped walking and was stood staring at the newspaper stand.

Sam called out to her, " Ah what's wrong Flo? Did the Pacers lose again?"

When Flo looked back towards them she looked like she had seen a ghost, it was the middle of the day and no one was around and yet her expression was one of abject fear. Katie knew there were only a couple things that could scare Flo like that and most of those things would scare her too.

She and Sam doubled back to where Flo stood to read the newspaper with her. The headline was dull and simple but the words were enough to make Katie want to run out of there and never come back. '**New Animal Attack in Preserve- Victim Eaten'**.

"Shit".

The Apex Pack was in Beacon Hills.

Katie stomach began to churn and she felt the need to be sick but she had to keep a cool head, she was the eldest of the three werewolves and they had to get back to the pack but they couldn't draw attention to themselves or leave a scent. She grabbed a newspaper and signaled that the other two should follow her. She rounded the alley of the grocery store and turned back to the two other werewolves.

"Right we need to get out of here ASAP, we can't leave a scent so we are gonna get a taxi into the middle of town, then split up and make our way back to the station, you both remember how to get there?"

Both faces looked back at her with grim expressions but nodded nonetheless.

"Right, remember to stay in town, go nowhere near the Preserve, take an awkward route. This is going to be harder than normal, there are other werewolves here and we can't let them find us, for Scott or because they might think we are the ones responsible."

Walking back to the street, Katie divided up the groceries into the three rucksacks they had, she hailed a cab and all three got into it. They were silent the whole cab ride as it took them into the center of Beacon Hills. Having paid the man, the three split up and she began to make her way to the station.

Whilst zigzagging her way through town Katie began to reflect on their predicament. It didn't look good. The Apex Pack were in Beacon Hills, worst case scenario they had followed them here, which was bad enough, but would pass through town in search of them, the sad fact was the best case scenario still resulted in more deaths. From there the potential situations could only get worse, the Apex Pack find the Beacon Hills pack, they fight and Scott's friends die. Or the Apex Pack find them and people in her pack die. Or the Apex Pack find them, as does the Beacon Hills pack and lots more people die. Katie knew that Scott wouldn't let the Apex Pack stay in Beacon Hills and attack innocents, which meant that they were going to have to go looking for the Apexes and once they found them, there was going to be a fight and there was going to be blood.

After about ten minutes running Katie was at the station and as she made her way inside she saw that Sam and Flo had gotten there before her, which was a blessing because it meant Katie didn't have to worry about them not making it back. They were waiting for her before going in which meant they wanted her to break the news to Scott. Great. She understood why they wanted her to, she was one of the oldest and they looked up to her plus she was Scott's closest friend in the pack, it made sense. It was still a shitty job.

"Right let's go in"

Together the three werewolves entered the station, the rest of the pack were milling around the carriages that had substituted for their living areas. At the sight of them the others got up, eager to raid the new groceries but once they noticed the looks on Sam and Flo and Katie's faces they all stood still.

Scott made his way from the back of the carriage out to meet them, "Katie, what happened?"

Katie didn't want to tell him, she didn't want to put her best friend through another round of hell, to burden him with more nightmares but she had no choice. She took the newspaper she had taken earlier out of her bag and threw it to him.

"They found us, the Apex Pack are in Beacon Hills".


	8. Chapter 8

It had been four days since the Sheriff had shown Derek and Stiles the body and they had found nothing. No scent, no other murders, no trace of werewolves which had lead them to believe that no matter how 'wrong' this werewolf was, it was also clever and wise enough to hide its tracks. At which point Stiles had concluded that Peter was a reasonable suspect, which was why now Derek, Stiles and the Twins were going to confront Peter once he got home from whatever it was Peter did.

Derek was not looking forward to confronting his uncle but Stiles wouldn't let it go, he was becoming more and more convinced Peter was responsible as the minutes ticked by. So the sooner they established that it wasn't Peter, the sooner they could move on and think of a plan to catch the other werewolf.

That said Peter was not exactly an innocent party so Derek saw the need to make sure.

"I mean come on, he's killed before, lots of people and he's not exactly remorseful about it, what's to say he didn't get a little antsy and decide he missed it? He's a psychopath, definitely not sane so it stands to reason that he could be 'wrong"

Stiles had been babbling along those lines for the last thirty minutes and showed no sign of slowing down.

It was Ethan's turn to try calm him down, "You might wanna tone down the accusations Stiles, because if it isn't Peter he probably won't appreciate being called a psychopath"

"But its true!"

"Used to be" Derek corrected him, "Whilst he isn't the picture of mental health, he isn't insane, not anymore"

"How can you be defending him? We know what he's capable of, what he's done, why would he stop?"

Aiden spoke up, "No one is defending him Stiles, we are just saying you can't rush into this, we need to smart about confronting him, this is Peter"

"Exactly, Peter who when he was an Alpha, turned into a gigantic, horrible monster, none of you guys did that when you were Alphas, therefore Peter's alpha shape was wrong, this killer werewolf is wrong, anyone else going to make the connection?"

"He has a point" this time Aiden was speaking to Derek.

He fixed the three other men in the room with his trademark stare, "I don't disagree. That's why we are here waiting for Peter, but there is no evidence to suggest it is him so when he gets here I will be the one to speak."

Inwardly Derek was tired, he had spent the last three nights trying to track the werewolf and now this argument was wearing his patience thin. He appreciated the need to confront Peter and whilst he was prepared to do what was necessary if Peter turned out to be the killer he wasn't overly eager to find out. Peter was one of the only remnants of his family after all, if he had to kill him he would feel like he was killing his family and there had been a time when Peter had been his uncle and not the twisted killer he had become.

Not that Derek felt he was alone, living with the twins and Isaac had been good for him, they felt like family, the whole pack did but the wolf in him had recognized and accepted his canine counterparts which had made him closer with those three in particular. It had been hard for the first couple of years having the Twins around, but over time they had tried to redeem themselves, to be better people, to change and he and the others had recognized that, so much so that Derek considered them family.

A family where one of his brothers had left and never come back.

Perhaps ironically as Derek had begun to think of family Peter pulled up outside the house, at the sound of the engine turning off and a door shutting the other three sat up at attention. Derek sighed, time to get this over with.

The door opened and Peter walked in. Where he had been no-one was sure, it seemed that it was time to find out. Peter looked up at the four werewolves waiting in the living room and he knew something was up. You could never bullshit a bullshitter.

"Waiting for me boys? I must say its very thoughtful of you to welcome me home but I feel you could have put more effort in, I mean where's the cake?"

He was met with no response from the four faces set in stone at which point Peter rolled his eyes. "What have I done this time?"

Derek replied "There was a body found in the woods. He was killed by a werewolf"

"Ah of course, I saw something in the paper about that, well obviously not about werewolves but animal attacks" Peter paused, a brief moment of consideration before in typical Peter fashion he tilted his head to the side and fixed his gaze upon Stiles "And _you_ think I'm responsible"

"Well it wouldn't be the first time you decided to go on a killing spree, you were the animal attacks in the papers"

"And how many times do I have to tell you, that was a vendetta, those responsible died, you killed me, evens stevens, I thought we'd gotten past all that"

"Oh yeah sure let's all forget the maiming and killing and the ruining of two of my friends lives, the abject terror and manipulation, you know what Peter I forgot why we were even mad at you, let's be best friends"

"Always so sarcastic Stiles, and how has worked for you so far? Saved all your friends? Gotten the girl? Know where Scott is?"

Ethan stood up after Peter's latest comment "That's out of line Peter"

"You're right and so is accusing me of murder, again. In fact why am I the prime suspect, Deucalion's twins are the ones who killed most recently and more regularly I'm willing to bet, maybe they have a taste for it and it's just _so_ hard to fight, why aren't they suspects"

"Keep talking like that and you'll see how much of a taste for it we have"

"See, short fuses like that and lycanthropy almost always leads to murder"

"ENOUGH" Derek demanded. At that all talking ceased and all eyes were on him, although not an alpha anymore Derek still assumed a position of leadership amongst the Beacon Hills wolves and so when Derek called for silence he got it, even Stiles would sometimes defer to him and now was one such occasion.

"Let's get this over with and no more arguing. Peter where were you two nights ago?"

Peter seemed amused by the whole situation and his questioning but he diligently complied nonetheless "If you must know, I was visiting a friend"

Stiles spoke up "You don't have friends"

Peter just smiled at Stiles, "Believe it or not but some people actually find me charming, particularly those of the female variety so if anymore details are needed of my night then ask away but you might not like my answers. I presume the three of you have been listening to my heartbeat and observed no fluctuations so if it's alright I think we'll finish question time"

Stiles looked to Derek for a reaction but he would find none. Peter was right, there had been no change in his heartbeat and so just as Derek had predicted, this had been an unnecessary interrogation and would make the next few days very awkward in the Hale house.

Peter seemed to be enjoying his victory "Now now Stiles, don't be so disappointed I'm sure you'll catch the killer before too many other people die"

He turned around and was about to leave the room before Derek spoke up, "Wait". Peter looked back at his nephew with his eyebrows arched in expectancy.

"What do you know about werewolves eating humans?"

Very rarely Peter Hale would be caught off guard and his carefully prepared mask would fall giving away his actual reaction as happened right then. He didn't look horrified rather uncomfortable as if the idea of human eating werewolves was a step too far even for him.

"Werewolves don't eat their prey, the kill isn't about survival. I've never seen or heard of it, for one to do so would be…"

"Wrong?" Stiles spoke up.

"Yes, wrong is probably the most apt description, is that what we're dealing with here?"

The despairing looks on the four men in front of him and their reluctance to admit so was all the confirmation needed.

"Well that is interesting"

Derek was tired of this conversation, it was a waste of time and the werewolf was still out there, it was a week until the full moon and they had to catch it before it became even more ruthless, so the time for talking was over. He looked at Peter, "So are you going to help us or not?'

Peter faced Derek, mask firmly back in place "Why nephew, I'm offended you had to ask, anything to help the young pack of Beacon Hills. Besides..." Peter took on a more serious expression "there's one important question you haven't asked. Why has this werewolf come to Beacon Hills? This werewolf can eat humans anywhere, there's no need to move across states. The Nemeton hasn't attracted any other omegas; they will only migrate to find a new alpha. There aren't any alphas in Beacon Hills which means it already has one"

The realization of Peter was saying dawned upon Derek, "Which means its part of a pack"

Peter continued, "We are going to have a big problem"

Silence fell upon the five men and it was thunderous.

/

After a day out with Allison and Isaac, Lydia was in a good mood werewolf problems be damned. She had learnt a long time ago that regardless of supernatural threats, she and the others could not let it take over their lives, so today the three of them had gone out for something to eat after Allison had finished her shift at the coffee shop.

She was now on her way home through the preserve to study after which she would settle down with a book and a glass of wine. A nice _normal_ evening she thought to herself.

It was just a shame that the trees blocked out the moonlight because it was such a beautiful evening.

Trees blocking out the moonlight.

Lydia looked around; she was in the middle of the preserve, which was on the other side Beacon Hills from her house and she had no idea how she got there.

Well that wasn't strictly true; car keys in hand, she must've driven out then walked here.

It was quite obvious why, she was a banshee, she was drawn to dead bodies and there was a werewolf in town killing people.

Which meant she was drawn to the killer werewolf.

In the preserve. On her own.

Panic beginning to set in Lydia checked herself for her phone, the problem was the dress she was wearing didn't have any and the gravity of Lydia's situation hit her.

Fuck.

Lydia knew that panicking lead to poor decision making so she forced herself to calm down, taking in slow deep breaths until her heart rate retuned to normal and she began to collect herself. She wasn't too far into the preserve, maybe a mile or so away from the car park so if she could make it back she would be safe. She turned around to leave.

But she couldn't despite herself, despite knowing how dangerous it was for her to continue, all she could focus on was the pull of the body, she felt as if she didn't go towards it something terrible would happen. She took one step towards the force pulling her and it magnified, she took another and still the pull became stronger, as if it were tugging at her limbs to move towards it.

So Lydia gave in and followed it, she had to know what was happening or help someone in danger, she didn't know if the pull was definitely a body or someone about to die. Even if it meant putting herself in direct danger, she was Lydia Martin, a banshee, this was what she did, her responsibility.

"Stiles is gonna be pissed' she thought to herself.

After another twenty minutes walking the feeling in her chest snapped, leaving Lydia light-headed and lost. Disorientated Lydia reasoned that she was where she was supposed to be.

The first thing to strike her was the silence; even the sound of the wind blowing through the trees had dimmed. She became aware that she had reached a clearing in the forest and that whatever she was supposed to find would be beyond the lines of trees she was sheltered by.

As Lydia strained her hearing for sounds of life she could here a snapping sound, like a very large twig breaking in too.

Now or never Lydia reasoned with herself and she walked around the tree she was stood behind to see.

She immediately wished she hadn't.

On the ground no more than thirty meters from her were three werewolves crouched down over two bodies. The snapping sound she had heard was a bone that had been discarded on the ground beside them as the werewolves were picking and biting at the flesh of their victims. It looked like they had already eaten most of them and were now finishing up which would inevitably lead them to Lydia. Just perfect.

Before the three werewolves noticed her Lydia took a step backwards, then another, unfortunately for Lydia her third step took her onto a twig and the sound of it snapping in the quiet forest was as loud as the cheering crowds at Beacon Hill lacrosse games.

The heads of the werewolves snapped up to look at the source of the offending noise, when they saw it was a young woman they stood up smiling.

Lydia took in the three werewolves staring at her; all three were men, tall, bulky huge men. They were staring at her with feral smiles on their wolfed out faces, looking like a twisted combination of wolf and man with their mouths warped to fit around their fangs, blood smeared around their jaws. But what scared her most about them were their eyes. They were pitch black, no discerning between pupil and iris, devoid of any light. It felt like she was staring into a deep perverse abyss.

Lydia was beginning to feel sick.

One of them spoke "Well look at what we have here, a lost little lamb"

The other two nodded in agreement, "Well we all know what happened to the lamb and wolf"

"Like a lamb to the slaughter, quite literally, serving herself up for desert, how considerate of her"

Lydia could barely hear what they were saying over the deep plunging of her stomach. She was going to die.

"I hope she runs, pumping all that warm blood throughout her body, it's like they season themselves"

"I don't, we just ate I'm not ready for exercise"

"Come on, like a human could ever constitute exercise, it'll be over in two minutes"

"She's a fine little cow isn't she, she'll go down just right"

Lydia began hyperventilating, these twisted psychopaths were going to butcher her like cattle and there would be nothing she could do to save herself or warn the others.

They began to step towards her, smiles on their horrifying faces and all she could do was scream.

So loudly that the three werewolves fell to the ground clutching their ears, howling in pain. Lydia knew she didn't have much chance of making it out alive but she had to use this opportunity.

She ran blindly through the forest, unable to see her feet in front of her, just trying to put as much distance between her and them as possible. She didn't know which direction she had headed in; all she could focus on was sprinting to the utmost of her ability away from where she had been.

Two hands grabbed her from behind and she felt herself hauled off her feet and back against her assailant's chest. She opened her mouth to scream but a hand over her mouth silenced her.

Terrified she began to thrash around in an attempt to break free but their grip was ironclad.

"Stop, stop fighting me I'm trying to help you"

Lydia spun round to look at the stranger who was tall with dark skin and a fade haircut plus a werewolf's teeth and fur.

Lydia ran from the stranger but he pulled her back again.

"Lydia stop, I'm not with them".

He knew her name; bloodthirsty werewolves wouldn't know her name. She looked at him again and to reassure her his eyes were now a glowing gold.

'How do you-"

"We don't have time, they're close I can hear them but they don't know I'm here so we have an advantage. We need to get to your car, do you know where that is?"

Lydia nodded, "In the car park to the west of the preserve".

"Okay, you're going to get on my back, make no sound at all and I'm going to carry you out to your car, it's the only way we get out of this alive. In fact give me your keys"

"What? I'm not some stranded little princess who needs saving… from dangerous drivers. Get me out of here and I will be driving us to safety"

"You need me to drive or else they will track your scent, I can take you someplace safe until it fades away".

Lydia stared at her 'savior' before deciding to relent; he was her only way out of this alive after all.

"Quickly, they're getting closer"

Lydia didn't need to be told twice, she handed over her keys and jumped on his back. "Just in case we don't make this out of here, what's your name?"

"Connor" was the short reply before he tore off into the forest.

Lydia wasn't a werewolf and had never had a piggyback from one before so she had never known how fast they could run but this was an eye opening experience. Trees were blurring to either side of them as Connor sprinted through the forest yet despite his awkward load, he moved with a grace and poise more in common with a wolf than human. With fleet feet he jumped over a creek, not breaking stride as he landed and continued running.

She could hear the howls from the other wolves, either signaling for more to come or their location neither was a thought that gave Lydia any comfort.

She soon began to recognize parts of the preserve as they travelled through the forest, they weren't far now but neither were the calls.

Coming to the summit of a hill she barely heard Connor over the wind rushing by her, "Brace yourself".

Lydia had only just processed what he had said before he sped up for the top of the hill, realizing his intention she clung to him for all she was worth.

What Lydia had taken for a hill was actually more of a cliff face that stood thirty feet over the car park Lydia had referred to. She hadn't known until the last moment that Connor was fully aware of this.

At the top Connor jumped and together they descended thirty feet down, as if Lydia hadn't been scared enough, the ground rushing towards them she was sure they wouldn't land and would suffer some horrible injury. But to Connor sticking this landing was the equivalent of a gymnast finishing their routine. With two feet and a solid hold of Lydia he made contact with the ground, he put Lydia down and they ran to her car, a beep and a flash of lights confirming the car was open.

Lydia wrenched the door open, flung herself inside and slammed the door shut, Connor slide in the drivers seat next door her and started the car, before tearing out of the car park.

No one said anything as they drove away, both trying to catch their breath and process the fact that they had made it. Connor made eye contact with Lydia in the mirror and they both began laughing hysterically, the only reaction short of sobbing that they could muster.

Once she had calmed herself Lydia's mind filled with questions and she wasn't going to hold them in.

"Who are they and why are their eyes black?"

Connor didn't take his eyes off the road as he took frequent turns down various roads, always coming back to the main road before turning again.

"They're werewolves, obviously, and they are your towns latest problem. As for the eyes, its because of what they are, what they do. Evil eyes for evil things."

"That wasn't very explanatory, and what do you know of my town's problems?"

"Enough to know that things have been worse here, and that when you hear a scream that rips your head off someone is going to die"

"You knew my name how?"

"The scream was a dead giveaway. You'll find out the rest when we stop"

"Why won't you tell me now?"

"Well for starters we are almost there and it isn't really my story to tell"

Lydia asked him to elaborate but from there on out he was stonewall silent.

She sat back until the car came to a halt outside the abandoned subway station.

"Seriously? You took me here? Do all werewolves like dark abandoned dens?"

Connor chuckled at that, "Believe me, if I had it my way I'd be holed up in a penthouse suit with the game on a big plasma TV and room service all round but I find my hand forced by supernatural circumstances."

He lead her inside the station although she remembered the way well enough, they came through into the platform where they were signs of life all around, from sleeping bags and pillows to rubbish piles and groceries in a makeshift kitchen.

"You're in a pack".

Conner gave her a curt nod "Sit down there, I'll just be a second" before walking towards a group hunched over a table, heads turned towards him and he was barraged with responses.

"Connor!"

"What took you so long?

"Wait, you brought someone?"

"How did you find her?"

The last voice was recognizable to Lydia but she was unable to put a face to it, she stood up and began to walk towards them, eager for answers.

"There were three of them, she was out alone and she screamed. So I hightailed us out of there, a close run thing too. I had no choice"

"Connor its ok, you did the right thing, I'll take it from here"

"Sure thing man"

Connor turned away from the group, which almost gave Lydia a view of the other wolves from where she was but Connor was called back so he blocked her view again. `'Connor, thank you, it means a lot to me".

The inability to place the voice was infuriating Lydia, she should know this. Fortunately for her Connor moved towards the kitchen out of her line of sight so Lydia could see the owner of the recognizable voice.

He was also the owner of a tattoo on his left arm, and uneven jaw and deep brown eyes that were heavy with concern.

"Scott?"

Lydia then proceeded to do something she had never done before in her life. She feinted.

**A.N. Sorry about the wait ladies and gents, been a busy week. Plus you know, need time to deal with that finale. Hopefully I can be more regular now that this is picking up. Let me know what you're thinking.**


	9. Chapter 9

Lydia woke with a start and found herself in unfamiliar surroundings, well not that unfamiliar she had come here to poison Derek that one time but bygones and all. The carriage she was sitting in however was definitely unfamiliar as was the face staring at her from the opposite end.

A young girl with long brown hair and striking green eyes was looking at her warily, like a lion protecting its kill. She couldn't have been any older than 15 but she had sharp cheekbones and fair skin which together somehow strived to give the girl an immensely fierce look, one which reminded Lydia of herself at that age, striving to control the situation and ensure things went the way she wanted.

It suddenly dawned on Lydia that they weren't the only two people at the station.

"Scott! Is he still here? I have to see him, could you please take me to him…?" Lydia trailed off, unsure of the young girls name.

"Flo. And he's coming here, or he will be as soon as I tell him your awake. So I have to go now, sorry."

Lydia just smiled at her and watched as the young girl walked away. She may only have a couple minutes before Scott arrives so she needed to prepare herself. How was she meant to deal with this, with the reappearance of their Alpha? It would be so much easier if Allison or Stiles were with her, then again maybe it wouldn't, things would have gotten emotional quickly.

It struck Lydia that it had to have been Scott Allison saw when she was hit by the car. And he hadn't come to help, did that mean he didn't care? It was possible that Scott had changed; it had been five years could anyone really stay the same after all that time? Were they still the same in Beacon Hills since he left?

All thoughts of Scott and his presence in Beacon Hills were put on hold as she remembered what else happened last night. The werewolves with black eyes. The remains of the two people they had eaten. How close she had come to dying. It didn't matter how why Scott was in Beacon Hills, all that mattered was stopping that from happening again.

The opening of the train door stopped Lydia from reminiscing, something she was grateful for, she looked up and met the gaze of Scott McCall.

With so much to take in Lydia was surprised that the first thing she thought was that he had finally gotten his hair under control, it was shorter on the sides and back but still thick on top, a sign of the scruffiness which she remembered a younger Scott wore along with Stiles and his buzz cut.

Five years had been good to him, his facial features were sharper, more mature and he was certainly bulkier and taller than she last remembered him, however Lydia was struck by the bags under his eyes, which were far heavier than what was to be expected of a twenty-one year old, a sure sign that Scott McCall was still trying to bear everyone else's burdens plus his own.

Without realizing it Lydia's legs had closed the short distance between them until she threw herself at Scott and enveloped him in a hug so tight it seemed as if she was trying to convince herself that this was real and not some sort of illusion. Lydia wasn't too sure that it wasn't, but then she felt Scott's arms wrap around her shoulders and his head next to hers.

It was real, after five years Scott McCall was back in Beacon Hills.

They stood there like that for several moments and for a time Lydia forgot about the werewolves from the night before, all she was concerned with was the return of her friend, but like dark clouds on the horizon last nights events could not be ignored and so Lydia pulled away from Scott. She looked up at Scott and his eyes were still closed and he was inhaling deeply.

"Scott?"

The True Alpha opened his eyes and took a step back, a warm smile plastered across his face.

"Were you just smelling me?"

Scott looked down sheepishly "Oh, err yeh, sorry it's just you smell"

Lydia raised her eyebrows, being told she smelled was not something that happened regularly to the banshee and this was not what she imagined the first thing Scott would say to her and quite frankly after last night she was allowed to smell a little.

Scott, cottoning on to how his words must have been interpreted quickly spoke up "Not in a bad way, of course not Lydia it's just that you carry scents, like a lot of them and its been a long time.

Realization dawned on Lydia and she almost hugged him again, "You mean I smell like the others, like your Mom or Stiles"

"Don't forget Allison" a new voice chimed in.

Lydia looked past Scott to see where the newcomer was and she saw a girl who wouldn't look out of place in a Swedish swimsuit calendar with her blonde hair and blue eyes plus her excellent figure. Lydia wasn't above admitting when she was jealous and she was certainly jealous of how this girl looked. She walked down the carriage to where Lydia and Scott were stood and plopped herself down on a seat next to them.

"Thank you Katie, I thought I was going to have some time to explain things to Lydia alone?"

"You thought that, I didn't, plus you'd probably explain it wrong, you're terrible at telling the story."

"But it's my story, I'm supposed to tell it"

"Yeh but you never take the credit for what you're doing, Scott McCall and his martyr complex." The girl looked at Lydia, "I'm Katie, it's my job to call Scott out on all his crap and you are Lydia Martin" Katie had this huge beaming smile which Lydia was finding it hard to ignore.

Lydia took seat for herself before looking from Scott to Katie.

"Are you-"

"A werewolf? Yes. We all are, well except Dee but he's a special case, kinda like you actually"

"Excuse me?"

"Well you know, supernaturally inclined, part of the pack but not a werewolf. But he isn't a banshee either, more of a seer. By the way what's the deal with being a banshee? Scott didn't know too much about it apart from being kinda psychic and finding dead bodies all the time, which must suck. And we barely learnt anything from the other druids and shamans we consulted over the years"

Scott looked like Katie's laidback attitude and questions was stressing him out and he decided to intervene, "Katie let's hold up on the Q & A's for now ok? It's Lydia who should be asking the questions first."

Katie nodded in agreement and smiled at Lydia as if to say sorry before pretending to zip her lips shut.

Lydia decided she liked Katie; she was confidant, straight to the point and seemed to be sincerely nice. She looked up from her seat to where Scott was still standing.

"You were consulting druids and shamans?"

Scott looked sheepish for the second time that afternoon, looking around the carriage before back to Lydia. "Well yeah, we had only just found out what you were before I left and I wanted to make sure you were going to be ok, and if I found anything out important I would've let you know."

Lydia herself had also searched high and wide for answers about her abilities but had come up with nothing, the fact that Scott had surprised her but it shouldn't have done, Scott looked after his friends.

"Did you find anything?"

Scott's face visibly fell, obviously he didn't have any good news, "No, nothing that we didn't already know you could do. There were a few other myths and legends that may be worth exploring but there wasn't a lot of common knowledge. I'm sorry"

Lydia tried to reassure him with a smile, "There's nothing to be sorry about, you tried to help while you were away and that's all you could do. I didn't find anything either. The fact that you were looking means a lot to me, it shows you didn't abandon us."

As soon as the last few words left Lydia's mouth she regretted them and it was very unlike Lydia to get her words wrong. Scott's eyes went to the floor and he drew back while Katie's head immediately swung in Scott's directions and it looked like she wanted to get up and comfort him. Lydia beat him to it.

"Scott I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that, I know you didn't abandon us, we all know you didn't abandon us, that's not what I wanted to say" Lydia stood up and hugged Scott again, this time more in a manner as a mother would comfort her son. Lydia made note of how much the idea he abandoned his pack affected Scott. "None of know what happened, but we all believe you did what you had to do."

Scott lifted his head from her hold and fixed her with a focused gaze, "No, you don't know what I've been doing and its time one of you did."

Scott took a seat opposite Katie and Lydia returned back to her position on the back of carriage, a momentary pause fell upon the room, Lydia sat in anticipation, Katie leant back in wait and Scott gathered his thoughts.

"So as you know I left three days after Deucalion and Jennifer fled, I'd made my decision on the second day. I found Dee waiting for me, he's a seer".

"Which means?"

"They get visions, we don't know who from or why, but at certain times a seer will receive a vision and they are always about something that's going to happen. Dee gets visions about werewolves who are in trouble and need help. His first one was about me, he didn't know what it meant but a druid who knew Deaton did." Scott stopped to look at Lydia, as if to check whether she was following all of it.

Lydia tilted her head in amusement, "Really McCall? Have you forgot who you're speaking to? Keep going".

A small laugh burst from Katie who then ducked her head in apology.

Scott looked embarrassed before continuing, "Part of being a True Alpha is to act as an Alpha for all werewolves, to lead them. They would travel all over to help werewolves in need. The Druid told Dee this story and he came to find me. The werewolves Dee sees are in need and I'm the True Alpha. I had to go with him"

Lydia took a moment to consider what she had just been told. So this was it, this was what Scott had been doing in the years since he had left; he was giving for more than just Beacon Hills. This was bigger than Lydia had thought it was going to be, sure he had a good reason but she wasn't expecting this.

"So what happened next?"

Katie leapt over to sit next to Lydia, "He saved us all that's what". Katie was beaming at Scott who had that sheepish look on his face for the third time today.

"No it wasn't anything like tha-"

"It pretty much was Scottie" Katie interjected. She looked at Lydia, "Look he's going to play the rest of this story down, he always does, so let me assure you to add twice the amount of savior to this"

Lydia turned to Scott in anticipation of what came next. "Go on".

"I could hear Dee's heartbeat throughout the entire conversation, he wasn't lying. So we left and travelled amongst packs until Dee had a vision. It was of Connor and we went to help. He decided to join us and that's how this started out."

"Connor who saved me last night?"

Scott nodded, "That would be him".

"And what exactly is this?"

"My pack", Scott spoke with a look on his face similar to that of a proud father gushing about his children. "Everyone here except Dee is a werewolf, we find others like us and help them. So far everybody we found joined us, it wasn't meant to be like that but I'm not going to turn anyone away".

Lydia had kept up with the story so far, but she wanted to know a little more to understand Scott's task fully, "What kind of help did you all need, and why were you the only one helping?"

"Because we didn't have anybody else." There was a distinct drop in Katie's tone that made Lydia regret asking the question, Katie turned to face her fully.

"I said Scott saved us all and I mean that literally Lydia. My dad and I used to travel the country from state to state; we usually stuck up north near the forests. It wasn't a safety thing so much as we preferred it, the space, peacefulness, being part of nature, it's something that we as werewolves relished in. Four years ago we were trekking in the mountains, there was a landslide and my dad was caught in it. He died." Katie paused to swallow while she tried to blink back the tears that were beginning to pool in the corner of her eyes.

"I couldn't leave him, I didn't want to. He was all I had, everything I had ever known lying beneath those rocks. I stayed in that same spot for a week, didn't move, didn't eat, barely slept. That's when Scott found me, he didn't say anything or try to console me, he just started moving boulders. Connor and Sam helped, Dee sat down with me. They cleared the rocks away from my father's body and dug him a grave. That's when Scott told me it was time to say goodbye. I buried my dad and left with them. I told myself it was only until we reached the nearest town and I'd split. But in the week until we reached it they took care of me, made sure I ate and slept, would sit with me when the nightmares woke me up and they waited until I couldn't cry anymore. Scott helped me take each day one at a time until I realized that I couldn't last on my own."

Katie lifted her head to make eye contact with Lydia, she had managed to subdue her tears but the pain on her face reflected how she was currently feeling. "You know I didn't even have to ask him to join the pack, I was going to, I walked over to him one day to ask and before I could say anything he told me yes. And it's the same for all of us here, without him we'd still be lost"

Katie stood up after that, put her hand on Scott's shoulder and squeezed before leaving Lydia and Scott in the carriage.

Lydia felt awful, she hadn't wanted to delve into so personal a matter or to upset Katie and all the while she was struck by what she had said. _'Scott saved us all'. _In Beacon Hills they had spent years hurt over his absence whilst he was out there saving people, putting the needs of others above his own. True Alpha or not that made Scott a hero and he needed to know so.

The werewolf in question was sitting opposite her in silence, seemingly lost in his own train of thought.

"Scott I'm sorry, I didn't want to up-"

"Don't worry about it, she would have told you anyway. Someone always does when I'm trying to explain us."

"So why are you back in Beacon Hills, are you here to help us with these werewolves?"

A pained look flashed across Scott's face, almost a grimace. "No, that isn't why we are here. Dee got a vision, there's going to be a werewolf here who needs us. Its not one of the pack, someone different. We just go where the visions are"

"Where do this new pack come in, and what are they? Their eyes…they aren't like yours, I've never seen eyes like it".

"They're called the Apex Pack, we had a run in with them when we found Eli, we killed three of their own. So they've followed us for the last four months, we came close to losing them a couple times but somehow they find our trail. Their Alpha is called Kane; he thinks werewolves are better than humans, a literal step up on the food chain. All the werewolves that join him subscribe to that view. You saw what they did, what they are. That's why their eyes are black, doing these horrific things over such a long time it stains the soul and as Derek likes to point out, the colour of your eyes reflect the person you are. I really thought they wouldn't find us this time, I brought them here, it's my fault."

A silence stretched out between the two old friends as Lydia processed everything. In the space of two weeks the tranquility that Beacon Hills had enjoyed for the last three years had been destroyed and replaced by events that could turn into the bloodiest fight yet. In addition to this Scott had returned, he was interlinked with everything, he had become something bigger than just a werewolf. Seriously she wondered, why does anyone live in Beacon Hills anymore?

Lydia remembered the two werewolves from the last night and the people they had killed. These werewolves saw humans as a source of food and nothing more, which meant anyone is Beacon Hills could be in danger. It had to end.

"So how are we going to stop them? If we all come together we can stop them right?"

Scott's head snapped up to look at Lydia, eyes wide open in surprise. "No. You aren't getting involved, any of you."

"What do you mean, how can we let these monsters go round eating people? We have to stop them!"

"I will stop them, but you and the others can't get involved, the Apexes don't know about any of you and it has to stay that way, you have to stay safe"

"Scott how can you ask us to stay out of this? It's our home; we have always protected our home. Besides we already know about the werewolf attacks, we are already involved"

Scott shook his head and stood up, walking over and kneeling down before Lydia, "I'm asking you as a friend Lydia, I can't have you and the others in danger, we've already lost too much. My pack and I can handle the Apex Pack, they won't travel into town its too much exposure, after last night the Sheriff will close the Preserve to the public, we will patrol it and when we find them we will do what is necessary. I will do what is necessary."

Lydia thought back to why the Apex Pack were chasing Scott, 'we killed three of their own', Scott had killed? The grim expression on his face suggested that he was troubled and that came as no surprise to Lydia, he had to be going through a lot right now, coming back home, his mission and the threat of the Apexes, this was more than any man should have to bear.

But Scott McCall was no normal man and this was just the latest weight to the burdens the True Alpha shouldered, even Atlas would have wavered when faced with Scott McCall's load. Surely she and the others should do whatever they could to help lighten his load?

As if reading Lydia's mind Scott spoke; his voice heavy with desperation "Lydia please… they wont hesitate to kill you if you interfere, they almost killed you last night. Isaac, Allison, Stiles… I need you all to be safe."

Lydia had never seen Scott like this and it was all the more unsettling, if Scott was right and someone got hurt she didn't know how he would take it, hell she didn't know how she would take it. If Stiles was hurt…

"Ok. I wont tell anyone what I know or that your back." Scott looked visibly relieved after her agreement, his shoulders sank and he let out a deep breath. "But the others are still going to go after them, and my scent will still be all over the preserve last night."

"I know but I have a plan. The Apex Pack will know we are here after last night, knowing how much Kane wants me dead they will keep a low profile from here, avoid killing anymore humans until he finds me. So Derek and the others won't find them. As for your scent, we will take you back to where you found them; you call it in so there is a reason for your scent to be there. I will wait in the preserve until I know your safe."

"So what now?"

Scott managed to summon a smile despite the dark atmosphere in the carriage, "Now you come and meet my pack".

Scott led her off the train carriage and into a makeshift living area in the station, there were seven people sat around a fire in a circle. Lydia recognized Flo sat with two boys that she would have guessed were sixteen, Katie and Connor were sat next to a man of around Scott's age, and there was one more boy sat at the edge of the circle looking at Scott as if he were awaiting instruction.

"Ok everyone so if you haven't guessed this is Lydia Martin. Lydia this is my pack, next to Flo are Wallace and Eli. That's Sam near us, you know Connor and Katie", at the mention of his name Connor nodded at Lydia, she mouthed a silent thank you to him, inwardly she cringed at what was definitely not the way to thank someone who had saved your life but what else could a girl do?

"And the scrawny human sitting in between them is Dee"

"Hey at least I only have to shave once every two weeks, isn't it time for your hourly trim boss?"

"I said stop calling me boss Dee"

"And I say I'm going to stop smoking but it isn't happening anytime soon is it?"

Lydia was fascinated as she looked at them all, trying to remember everything about Scott's new pack, Dee in particular as in a roundabout way he was responsible for Scott leaving although it would be unfair to blame him for anything.

She was struck by the seven mirrored expressions on the faces opposite her, Scott picked up on it, "Oh don't worry about the stares Lydia, it's just that they never met anyone from my life before this"

Three hours passed before Scott said it was time to leave, in that time she learnt a lot about Scott's pack. She saw that Wallace and Eli were peas in a pod reminding her of a young Scott and Stiles, as the middleman age wise Sam tried to be more mature than the younger werewolves as if it was his duty to be responsible for them. Dee and Scott were very good friends and bounced off of each other, takings playful digs at one another, Connor wasn't content unless everyone in the pack was happy, every time someone moved or left the space Connor would stay alert until they were settled.

What was most obvious to Lydia however was that Scott and Katie were incredibly close, like a brother and sister she noted but she could think of one girl who would have been unsettled by their relationship. But Lydia was glad Scott had someone like that, she seemed to help lift some of the weight on his shoulders, and she managed to do the same for Lydia.

Lydia decided that she definitely liked Katie.

When it was time Scott, Katie and Lydia got into Lydia's car and they started off back to the preserve. Lydia was apprehensive about going back there and when Katie offered to join them she was definitely a little relieved. On the way back there was one thing weighing down on her mind.

"Can I come back and see you? I mean it's been five years, and I know its dangerous but I haven't seen you in five years. I missed you".

Scott smiled and reached down to grab hold of Lydia's hand, "Of course you can, I'd love that. We'd need to make sure the others can't pick up my scent but all you really need to do is shower lots"

"Trying to say I smell again McCall?"

"I never said you smelled in the first place, you just carry scents."

Katie's voice chimed in from behind them "I don't know what you're talking about, I can't catch anything of her, I think you should give the girl a break."

Lydia made eye contact with Katie, "And you, when was the last time you went clothes shopping? Because honey those clothes are definitely too small for you"

"Err I don't know, maybe a year or two? It's not like clothes shopping has ever been high on the agenda"

Lydia shook her head, no this would not do. "Well then its decided, you are going to come shopping with me and while we are out we can pick up Flo some clothes too"

Scott was now positively beaming "I think that's a great idea."

"Please, you're just happy that your old pack is mixing with your new one" Katie replied.

"I never said that wasn't the case".

Their jovial conversation was brought to an end when Lydia parked up at the front of the Preserve; a heavy silence fell amongst the trio.

They got out of the car and walked through the forest, barely making a sound to avoid detection. Reassuringly the birds of the forest were in full song and after fifteen minutes solid walk they reached the place of the previous nights attack.

Katie gave Lydia a firm hug before running off to take a position to watch her from afar leaving just Scott and Lydia. Sensing her apprehension Scott put his hands on her shoulder and this small action managed to calm Lydia down despite herself.

"You don't need to move from here and you definitely don't have to look at the bodies again. Just make the call and stay here, I wont be far until the others arrive ok?"

Lydia gave an affirmative nod, "Won't they smell you on me or around here?"

A shake of the head answered Lydia's question, "No they wont, the only thing they will be able to pick up is the stench of the bodies and the anger coming off of the werewolves here last night. It's so thick it's the only thing I can smell. When you get to the station ask for a shower, that'll take care of the rest."

"Are you sure you don't want the others to know? They'll want to see you, they'll want to hel-"

"No Lydia, they can't know. I'm trusting you to keep what you know to yourself, I know you will and I'm sorry that you have to keep this secret but it's the best option."

Lydia embraced Scott and squeezed him tight, recollecting how earlier she felt that holding onto him was the only way to reassure herself he was real, she tightened her grip on him, still real. For his part it seemed Scott didn't want to let go of her either, after five years he had found one of his pack and it was an emotional moment for the Alpha, five years without a pack member is hard for any werewolf.

Before letting go Scott took in a deep breath, just like he had done before. Katie's comment from earlier chimed in Lydia's head 'Don't forget Allison'.

"You still love her don't you?"

Scott didn't seem surprised by Lydia's deduction; he simply broke away from the hug and looked Lydia dead in the eye "I love all of you. See you soon", with that Scott turned and stalked off into the forest.

Now alone Lydia sighed before taking her phone out and typing in a number she had called far too often for these types of circumstances.

"Stiles get your dad, I found more bodies".

**A.N. Hey guys, super sorry about the long time between chapters, just had a lot on atm. But here it is, hope this was worth the wait and explained any questions you've had about the plot. Its about to pick up now so please stay with it. Reviews are always welcome.**


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